Johny Hendricks was certain he won that fight.
But despite his premature celebration inside the Octagon, "Bigg Rigg" still came up short on the judges' scorecards after a 25-minute war against then-Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight kingpin Georges St. Pierre, who went AWOL after his UFC 167 title defense.
See the controversial scorecards here.
Hendricks, meanwhile, would regroup and take Robbie Lawler to the limit at UFC 171 back in March, in a five-round performance that was good enough to secure the vacant 170-pound strap. As luck would have it, his first title defense will also be against "Ruthless," after spending the last few months on the sidelines rehabbing a bicep injury.
While he was gone, Lawler bounced back by bouncing Jake Ellenberger right out of the cage at the UFC 173 pay-per-view (PPV) event last May. Two months later, he turned away the "Immortal" Matt Brown in the UFC on FOX 12 main event and didn't look any worse for the wear.
UFC 181: "Hendricks vs. Lawler 2" PPV takes place on Sat., Dec. 6, 2014 inside Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. To see who else is competing on that stacked "Sin City" fight card click here.
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