Credit: Josh Hedges, Zuffa LLC

Adam Gerber (Opinion)

 It is better to be a warrior in a garden, than to be a gardener in a war  — Chinese Proverb

While reading this Chinese proverb, it is hard for me to conjure up any image in my head that isn’t Robbie Lawler fishing with his son Glen at the Cypress Head Club Pier at dusk, fishing poles stretched up to the sky while their lines cascade downward and disappear underneath the glassy surface of the lake.

Robbie fishing with his son, Glen Credit: Zuffa LLC

The serenity itself is enough to permanently etch the scene in my brain, all the while juxtaposed with the other iconic imagery of “Ruthless” catalogued in my mental archives. His upper lip hanging off of his face after the second MacDonald fight, visage masked in both his own and Rory’s blood. His arms outstretched in pure contentment and triumph, after his head kick KO of Bobby Voelker, or the dead seriousness and self belief in his eyes when, after Conor McGregor’s loss to Nate Diaz by rear-naked choke, Robbie calmly explained that if he hurt McGregor in a potential fight he wouldn’t look to take Conor’s neck – he would look to take his soul instead.

Lawler soaking it all in immediately after being pulled off of Voelker for the head kick KO Credit: Zuffa LLC

It paints a picture of a man who is perfectly at peace with himself and with the universe. He is even-keeled and mild tempered, but he knows and understands exactly what he likes to do and what gets him going. What he loves just so happens to be participating in gratuitous violence, whether he is giving it or taking it. As calm, collected, and cerebral as Lawler seems outside the cage, once his walkout music starts you can see the sadomasochistic demon that he battles to quell each day slowly bubble to the surface with each step he takes towards the battlefield. The thrill of the fight is a matter of fact for him, a therapeutic existential certainty. In other times, Robbie would have been a Spartan, a Hun, a Viking, an Aztec or a Maori. Instead, he is a modern day warrior without a war to fight in, so he exercises his demons inside the cage. He is the proud owner of one of the most impressive career resurgences ever seen in modern MMA, completely reinventing himself and his fight style in order to make it back into the UFC and to put him on a collision course with a Welterweight championship belt. He was the then the proprietor of the most violent, entertaining, fan friendly title reigns of all time, and seemed to love every second of it even more than we did. Robbie Lawler was the fighter who convinced me that MMA was something that I should dedicate every single Saturday of my life to watching. It had nothing to do with anything he said, I was completely captivated, even changed, by his unrelenting fervour for dishing out and absorbing punishment. His passion was so evident it was infectious and intoxicating. Imagine my dismay upon the realization that Lawler is one of the last of a dying breed in MMA. A call-back to the old days of MMA just as much as he is a call-back to the gladiator pits of Ancient Rome. His kind is on its way to becoming extinct, especially the ones that can compete at the highest level of MMA, and his remaining performances should be respected with the weight of said realization thudding in the hearts of every fight fan with every punch Robbie eats before smiling and shaking his head. There are two types of smiles that a fighter will show after being hit with a hard, clean shot. The first and most common is one you will seldom catch on Robbie’s face, but one that is most common with almost every other fighter. It is one that is meant to convey the message of “ha-ha, that didn’t hurt me” and almost always is preceded by a shot that most definitely hurt them more than any other strike in the fight so far. The second is the one most commonly expressed by Lawler and is hardly expressed by any other high level fighter anymore. A genuine smile that conveys an awe-inspiring love for getting in a fucking fight, whether he is giving or taking. An acknowledgement of “yes that hurt me, now do it again!” I try not to let the weight of my Lawler realization taint my appreciation for him when he makes the walk, and I am content knowing that I am watching this shameless savage play his role in combat history. If Robbie Lawler will not go gently into that good night, I might as well try to enjoy it as much as he will. A relic of a long-forgotten time, a snapshot of a small piece of the collective human soul and psyche, which has lived deep inside each and every one of us since we were killing Neanderthals to survive increased competition – personified underneath the bright lights for all to bear witness.

 I’m a true fighter, I come to fight, no matter what happens I keep coming, and I come to knock people out!  — Robbie Lawler

Lawler after the second MacDonald fight at UFC 189 Credit: Joe Camporeale, USA TODAY SPORTS