Never Underestimate The Influence Of Robbie Lawler

Late in the round it was Lawler who started to get loose and land solid shots bloodying up the face of MacDonald.

Lawler continued to look loose and comfortable in his movement when he came out to start Round 3. With MacDonald looking to drift back to range where his length would be more of a factor Lawler stepped in and cracked him with some big shots before easily stuffing another MacDonald takedown attempt.

With MacDonald bleeding badly from several cuts on his face and with what appeared to be a broken nose, Lawler continued to stalk while not over-extending himself on any of his strikes. With things looking bad for the challenger, MacDonald suddenly unleashed a head kick that, while partially blocked, took the legs of Lawler. With Lawler staggering backward to the cage, MacDonald unleashed a torrent of punches, kicks, knees and elbows.

Lawler fired back at MacDonald but the end of Round 3 was all MacDonald as he suddenly appeared to take back control of the fight.

MacDonald opened Round 4 with another head kick that hurt Lawler. MacDonald, spurred on by Lawler’s unsteadiness, turned up the heat with another flurry of strikes, including a series of hard elbows to the face of the champion.

Lawler managed to regain his legs and began to push forward once again, landing some good shots and, once again, stuffing a MacDonald takedown attempt.

By the end of Round 4, Lawler had joined MacDonald in gushing blood, sporting a badly split upper lip. Lawler spit blood on the canvas at the end of the round and the two men engaged in a staredown before having to be separated and sent to their corner.

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