Robbie Lawler made a triumphant return to the UFC tonight with a first round TKO victory over Josh Koscheck, though the stoppage was a little controversial.
They start quickly in the first with Koscheck firing off a head kick in the opening exchange. It’s blocked, but it’s not long before Koscheck speeds in for his first takedown of the fight.
Lawler goes for the butterfly hooks and manages to use it to get Koscheck off him and gets partially to his feet, though Koscheck’s still on him.
Up against the cage Koscheck still has a hold on Lawler and drags him back to the mat. Lawler gets halfway up and Koscheck momentarily takes his back looking for the rear-naked choke, but leaves it and Lawler’s able to get up once again.
Koscheck’s giving Lawler absolutely no room to operate in this opening round and smothers him against the cage. Lawler lands a knee and then another, and Koscheck gets a takedown wrong allowing Lawler to sprawl on top of him.
Koscheck’s down on his knees with Lawler leaning on top, and ‘The Ruthless One’ shows why that’s an apt nickname as he makes a big impact from the position, suddenly unleashing a series of bombs on his opponent and Koscheck looks dazed.
A couple more hard shots land and the referee’s dived in to bring an end to the fight. It’s perhaps a little premature and Koscheck complains, but nevertheless Lawler has the TKO victory with 3.57mins of the first round gone.
Big, big win for Lawler here. Not many were predicting him to get anything from this fight and in the opening stages that looked like being the case as Koscheck utilized his wrestling advantage, but Lawler’s one of the hardest hitters out there so he was always in with a chance, and seized the opportunity with both hands when it presented itself.
