Colby Covington vs Robbie Lawler

this weekend we have Colby Covington taking on robbie lawler I like this matchup interesting dynamics Colby's been on a roll Lawler coming off back-to-back losses Lawler is the underdog at plus 205 Colby's at minus 240 a decent-size favorite at this moment in time and this isn't a surprise I mean obviously Colby's looked great six fight win streak impressive performance against our da Lawler on the other hand the older fighter coming off two losses in a row moved camps so I see this is a fair betting line but does Robbie Lawler have value I guess we'll find out but let's take a look at the matchup Colby strongest asset is this wrestling so how's Robbie fared against wrestlers in the past and overall he's done very well positionally he can escape from bottom or circle out from the fence he has a good sprawl doesn't usually get stuck against wrestlers and asked her and I was able to get him down take his back Donald Cerrone who's not a wrestler but as good grappling was able to take him down control him to a degree Lawler's fights with Johnny Hendrickson have a lot of wrestling but he was able to be controlled long enough on the mat and fence to make the fights really close for the judges both times other than that we'd really have to go back to the Strikeforce days to find more grapplers and wrestlers tim kennedy Xhaka races are some of the notable grapplers he's faced so let's talk about Colby here I don't see Colby's wrestling as the most threatening thing to Lawler I think it'll be pressure ace being as unpredictable as possible that'll give Lawler a tough time and with that comes a wrestling threat of course I could see a scenario where Colby implements a different kind of game plan here and what I mean is Colby could have success with teeps or kicks to the midsection lay kicks a lot of movement on the outside think along the lines of Rory MacDonald versus Robbie Lawler and the rematch if Lawler pressures too heavy Colby does have that opportunity to clinch turn robbie against the cage and begin to neutralize him and this will keep Colby from getting into brawls in the pocket which he wants to avoid as much as possible since Robbie thrives there so I do have some skepticism on how Colby will do against Lawler on the feet if he chooses to engage or is forced to engage Colby certainly has a lot of speed volume decent kicks but a lot of the time he over extends himself when he's punching and these are great opportunities for Lawler counter Kolbe also bites on faints a lot which Robbie can use to set up traps and Lantis punches take for example another southpaw versus southpaw matchup colby covington vs Demian Maia Maia had great success early in that fight landing his punches cutting Colby's sometimes hurting Colby but Maya's not known for his excellent striking by any means he has a decent reach pretty basically the strikes but Colby had to figure out how to get by that and luckily in Classic Maya fashion he really ended up gassing and Colby was able to outwork him and win but still that fight really makes me question Colby's ability to get by a southpaw fighter like Lawler however it has been over a year since Colby's last fight so we will see if he's improved enough to get by Lawler if ring rust is going to be a factor in this bout it's really tough to know I do understand the hype behind Colby I definitely see some strong paths to victory playing a smart gameplan wearing down Lawler to secure either a decision or perhaps a submission victory I believe this is how most people see the fight going down and I'm certainly convinced to that at times as well I've struggled with my decision personally for me what it comes down to is really just the experience Lawler has had in the level of competition he's faced over the years I can't discount that also I've seen people talk about how Lawler hasn't looked the same since you sada and honestly if you look at Lawler in the Askren fight I don't think I noticed a more focused a more angry more jacked Robbie Lawler in quite a while when he was walking out you could see his veins popping out and to me Lawler has looked good and I give him a pass in the RTA fight obviously he had a torn ACL Lawler makes you miss he makes you pay he has a good sprawl I see him finding opportunities against Colby in in multiple positions in this fight we are talking about five rounds opportunities for both guys and I just haven't seen enough from Colby in certain situations to pick him so my pick is going to be Robbie Lawler it was a difficult decision to come to I haven't settled on a method of victory just yet but if you want to add me on verdict MMA and on Twitter you can certainly see what I decided come fight night all that information is available in the description aside from that I thank you so much for watching this video I hope you all enjoy the fights