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Finally Rory MacDonald is getting his shot at the UFC welterweight championship in July at UFC 189. After defeating all comers except for Robbie Lawler – the current welterweight champion – since losing to Carlos Condit in 2010 he gets a chance at revenge. The fight ended in a split decision victory for Robbie and MacDonald’s anticipated showdown with Johny Hendricks was derailed. After Lawler beat Hendricks in their rematch for the belt things got really interesting really quickly. Here are three solid reasons that MacDonald vs. Lawler is what’s best for business.

1. It’s a rematch of a very close war between two of the world’s best at 170. Fans love rematches, I love rematches, especially when they mean something and this one means a lot. MacDonald is the most talented non-champion at any weight class or close to it and he has beaten some pretty significant guys in BJ Penn, Nate Diaz, Demian Maia, and Jake Ellenberger to name a few. The guy has a resume and he finally gets a shot at the last man to defeat him. He also gets a chance to prove that he really is the next GSP like he was heralded as for so long.

2. Robbie Lawler is the greatest career rebirth story in the history of the sport if you ask me. Randy Couture is a close second, but this one means a lot because Robbie was my favorite fighter for the longest time. When he lost to Nick Diaz everyone wrote him off and said he was all hype. Then, after having success in other promotions he reentered the UFC and his fans were afraid he would suffer the UFC curse like most of the PrideFC guys did and become irrelevant. Lawler smashed his opposition and eventually lost a close decision to then champion Johny Hendricks before pummeling Matt Brown in what was easily one of the best fights in years. He finally got the UFC championship he always wanted in his return bout with Hendricks and for a moment we thought we were going to get another trilogy with an immediate rematch in the cards for Johny. Thankfully for us we do not have to get the same fight three times in a row again and here’s why.

  1. If the champ wins he has only beaten one guy in defending his title despite three fights in a row.
  2. It holds up everyone else in line.
  3. It ties up the belt for sometimes over a year from being defended. If the shot is promised to an opponent who gets injured and the champ agrees to wait it removes any hope for other fighters getting the chance to step in.

3. The welterweight division has so many people in it that some are relegated to a hellish place as gatekeeper. This is because those fighters may be talented and may have the skills, but they will never be able to fight top tier guys to prove it. Now someone has the opportunity to fight Johny Hendricks and if they win they can make a name for themselves. If they beat another mid tier opponent they are still mid-tier. There has to be an opening or they can never improve their position. Robbie luckily had a straight shot to the top in terms of fighter rankings being in the right place at the right time. As long as he won he was getting his shot.

Rory MacDonald means better PPV buys against Lawler. No one really wanted to see Hendricks 3 that I spoke to and Rory made much more sense and in my eyes a legitimate new threat to Robbie’s new found title.

What do you think? Does Lawler vs. Rory make more sense than Hendricks?

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