Robbie Lawer
By the time Robbie Lawler arrived for his second stint in the UFC in 2013 it felt like his best days were likely behind him after a 3-5 record in the Strikeforce promotion.
However, returning to the Octagon after an eight year absence seemed to light a fire under ‘Ruthless’ and a shrewd move back down to welterweight helped him turn over a new leaf.
Suddenly Lawler looked better than ever as he racked up a three fight winning streak over Josh Koscheck, Bobby Voelker and Rory MacDonald to earn a title shot.
Lawler wouldn’t win the belt at the first attempt, losing out to Johny Hendricks on the scorecards, but two more big wins against Jake Ellenberger and Matt Brown led to a title rematch and this time he got the decision win to become the UFC welterweight champion of the world.
The fairytale story didn’t end there though as Lawler would go on to successful defend the title in a classic war with Rory MacDonald and defeat Carlos Condit too, before his reign came to an end.
