Matt Brown vs. Robbie Lawler Headlines UFC on FOX 12 in San Jose

[Swinny]

Matt Brown vs. Robbie Lawler headlines UFC on FOX 12 in San Jose

Two of the sport’s most entertaining and highest-ranked welterweights will headline the UFC’s next network-televised event.

UFC President Dana White today announced that recent winners Matt Brown (19-11 MMA, 12-5 UFC) and Robbie Lawler (23-10 MMA, 8-4 UFC) will headline UFC on FOX 12.

UFC on FOX 12 takes place July 26 as San Jose’s SAP Center. The main card airs on FOX following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Lawler is ranked No. 3 and Brown is No. 5 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA welterweight rankings, which will be published later today.

White later confirmed the fight will serve as a title eliminator.

Brown recently picked up his seventh straight UFC win after scoring a dramatic come-from-behind TKO victory over Erick Silva in UFC Fight Night 40′s headliner. It earned some high praise from White.

The 33-year-old Ohioan has knocked out six opponents during his remarkable streak. Despite wins over Mike Pyle, Jordan Mein and Mike Swick, “The Immortal†has been criticized for lack of quality competition during his run at the belt.

However, if he can get by Lawler, who narrowly lost to Hendricks in March in a bout for the vacant belt, that’ll no longer be an issue. The 32-year-old Lawler, who now trains out of Florida’s American Top Team, rebounded this past weekend at UFC 173 with a lopsided TKO win over Jake Ellenberger. “Ruthless†is now 4-1 in his past five fights, which came after a move from middleweight to welterweight.

The latest UFC on FOX 12 card includes:

Matt Brown vs. Robbie Lawler
Anthony Johnson vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Michael Johnson vs. Josh Thomson
Daron Cruickshank vs. Jorge Masvidal
Dennis Bermudez vs. Clay Guida
Noad Lahat vs. Steven Siler
Kyle Kingsbury vs. opponent TBA

Happy now [MENTION=626]The Stuntman[/MENTION]? That's gonna be a hell of a fight.

 

[The Great Cochrane]

And just when I was craving a good main event my prayers were answered.

This is gonna be an amazing fight. I'm willing to bet money that the winner of this will probably be the next to challenge Hendricks after the winner of Rory/Woodley does so.

 

[Swinny]

And just when I was craving a good main event my prayers were answered.

This is gonna be an amazing fight. I'm willing to bet money that the winner of this will probably be the next to challenge Hendricks after the winner of Rory/Woodley does so.

Would have to be. Gotta go with Robbie in this one though. Brown put up a fight, it'll probably be a war, but Lawler has the better skillset everywhere. Both guys have very similar styles as far as always coming forward, pushing the pace and their opponents go though and it ain't gonna be easy to fluster and frustrate either guy like they have with opponents in the past. Will be interesting.

 

[The Great Cochrane]

Would have to be. Gotta go with Robbie in this one though. Brown put up a fight, it'll probably be a war, but Lawler has the better skillset everywhere. Both guys have very similar styles as far as always coming forward, pushing the pace and their opponents go though and it ain't gonna be easy to fluster and frustrate either guy like they have with opponents in the past. Will be interesting.

Lawler does have the advantage with boxing and experience. But this sport is all about momentum, and Matt Brown out of anybody has more of it than anyone. I'd say if this fight does go the 5 round distance, it favors Brown more than it favors Lawler.

Both men don't have very impressive records going the distance but I do know that Brown has an edge on cardio and can survive more punishment.

 

[Swinny]

Lawler does have the advantage with boxing and experience. But this sport is all about momentum, and Matt Brown out of anybody has more of it than anyone. I'd say if this fight does go the 5 round distance, it favors Brown more than it favors Lawler.

Both men don't have very impressive records going the distance but I do know that Brown has an edge on cardio and can survive more punishment.

I could maybe see that, but Lawler also has the experience of actually going five rounds and he looks good up until the very end against Hendricks. Brown's cardio has always been on point, but you never know when if he gets to the fourth or fifth round, especially if Lawler has been pressuring him the whole time. It's definitely an interesting fight and there's no way it's not a barnburner.

 

[The Great Cochrane]

I could maybe see that, but Lawler also has the experience of actually going five rounds and he looks good up until the very end against Hendricks. Brown's cardio has always been on point, but you never know when if he gets to the fourth or fifth round, especially if Lawler has been pressuring him the whole time. It's definitely an interesting fight and there's no way it's not a barnburner.

I'm more than sure, that body kick he took from Erik Silva would have stopped any other human being. People taking head shots is one thing but when a body shot drops you like that, trust me, it damn well hurts. Until you yourself have taken a kick to the body like that, you can't tell me otherwise.

Not to mention the Jordan Mein fight he took a lot of punishement as well. When's the last time we saw Lawler take tremendous body shots like that? Never really. Plus the fight also favour Brown the more distance he closes as well, he attacks with more knees and elbows than Lawler does and Matt Brown goes a mile a minute. Lawler is rather patient with his attack but that can be a downfall against a guy like Matt Brown and there's no way he's gonna knock him out. The only way he's gonna win this fight is if he submits him and I don't see Lawler doing that at all.

Like I said, the longer the fight goes, the more it favors Brown.