Finishing

Westley Chow
February 19th, 2008

Finishing
It’s just as he had imagined. All the anticipation building up to today… It’s finally arrived. In another minute, Robbie Lawler makes his professional debut inside the Octagon as the youngest professional Mixed Martial Arts fighter in the UFC. His facial expression shows nothing, like the calm before the storm. In the locker room with his trainers, he mouths the words to the heavy metal music playing in his ear buds while simultaneously going through the motions of combinations and drills he’s been practicing endlessly for the past eight weeks. “You’re faster than him, stronger, more explosive… If he tries to shoot in and take you down to the ground, you’ll know what to do. You’ve trained long and hard…” His coach goes on and continues to repeat the same motivational jargon that you hear about in books with titles like “The Giant is Within” by authors known for their psychological babble like Stony Robbins. Robbie blocks it out. He knows that when the time comes, his body will just react to the movements of his opponent and he’ll execute his techniques just like in the training room.
The walk out in the MGM Grand Garden Arena is long and confusing. Security guards lead the way to the cage, and the 17,000 screaming fans continue to try to touch him on the way out. This is what you were born to do Robbie, you were made for this… you’re a warrior. Don’t let the hype get to you, you’re a finisher. Don’t let the fight go into the hands of the judges, finish this kid. The fans continue to attempt to reach and grab, trying to steal his energy as he finally makes his way to the referee who gives him his final check. Mouthpiece in, cup in, no Vaseline except on the face, walk up the stairs into the Octagon. His opponent is already inside, probably talking to himself, telling his conscience to shut up and get focused, because it’s about to get really crazy in a minute. The announcer brings the two together to the center of the octagon where the referee explains the rules and the fighters get a chance to glare into each other’s souls one last time. Robbie is empty… All his preparation has been done. There’s no need to stare his opponent down. He knows it’ll be over soon.
Each fighter walks back to his corner, and it begins. Robbie comes out hard, rushing at his opponent with a flying knee which misses as his opponent calmly steps to the side. They trade shots standing up, and he shoots in on Robbie. Sprawl! Robbie stuffs the takedown, clinches his opponent, and brings two knees up from hell while snapping his head down into those colossal knees. He’s rocked! Robbie rushes in on him and throws a flurry of fists, ending the fight in spectacular fashion with the referee jumping in to save his opponent. ‘The Phenom’ Robbie Lawler has done it again in his professional debut, stopping Jamie Varner in 48 seconds of the first round by TKO. Wow, what an adrenaline rush. It’s over. I finished him.

Name ‘The Phenom’ Robbie Lawler
Record 1-0-0 (Win-Loss-Draw)
Height 5’7’’
Weight 155lbs (71kg)
Result Opponent Method Event Title Date Round Time
Win Jamie Varner TKO (Strikes) UFC 101 Respect 2/21/2009 1 0:48