Robbie Lawler claims razor thin decision win over 'Cowboy' Cerrone:

The decision could have gone either way I believe.

Our final three round bout of this so far incredible card sees a mouth watering Welterweight clash between former division kingpin 'Ruthless' Robbie Lawler and fan favourite Muay Thai expert Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone with the winner, firmly cementing themselves at the top of the 170lbs tree. Can Lawler land early and close the show for Cerrone, or can the 'Cowboy' execute a masterful game plan to breakdown Lawler or submit the Combact Club trainee. These two are most certainly the gamest fighters in the UFC today, in what is a dream meeting, as Cerrone looks for his 20th octagon victory, which would see him tie the record held by UFC Middleweight champ Michael 'The Count' Bisping.

'Big' John MacCarthy was our referee for this one as the opening of three scheduled rounds got underway. Robbie Lawler exploded out of the gates straight with a right hook and into a clinch where he landed huge knees to the body, with 'Cowboy{s}' left eye almost completely swollen shut already with the first round only a minute old. Both me  exchanged damaging knees in the single collar clinch, before Cerrone looked for that patented high kick. Cerrone then shot for a massively important takedown, as he looked to utilise his often overlooked Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu game. 'Cowboy' passed to side control before sliding to north-south, before Lawler scrambled to his feet. both men traded high kicks and straights at the close of a hugely exciting first round.

The end swell was used on Cerrone's eye in between rounds as the Denver favourite looked to disguise a right high kick. Yet another smashing elbow on the exit of the pocket landed flush for the 'Cowboy' as he began to loosen up and force Lawler to fight on the outside. A beautiful combination landed for Cerrone as a knee was followed by a straight and then a right high kick, constantly giving Robbie something to think about. Cerrone himself began to swarm Lawler who covered up well as the second round of this intriguing matchup came to it's conclusion.

Our third and final round of this one began with a good head kick for Lawler, who then landed a stiff jab to the body of Cerrone. Lawler was beginning to reinstate his first round pressure game as Cerrone was tagged with damaging shots to his suspect body and liver, upon instructions from Lawler's head coach Henry Hoeft. Cerrone seemed to catch a second wind toward the end of the third as both men traded fire, in a evenly contested match as both fighters go the distance. Memorable fight that certainly lived up to the billing, with the judges back as octagon side awarding a unanimous decision to the returning 'Ruthless' Robbie Lawler, an unpopular decision among the Honda Centre attendees.

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