Robbie Lawler Suffered Torn ACL and Meniscus in His Fight Against Rafael dos Anjos

Robbie Lawler might just be one of the toughest fighters on the planet.

The former welterweight champion suffered a torn ACL in his knee, as well as a torn meniscus, about midway through his last fight against Rafael dos Anjos in the main event at UFC on FOX 26 in Canada.

Sources close to the fighter confirmed to MMAWeekly.com that Lawler suffered the torn ACL and meniscus during the main event bout after UFC president Dana White first talked about what unfolded during a conversation with Yahoo! Sports on Thursday.

“The guy’s leg was destroyed,” White said about Lawler. “Blew his ACL and meniscus and every other thing that’s in your knee out in like the third round. Wobbled over to the fence, laid against it, and asked dos Anjos to come in so they could just bang it out. Robbie Lawler went to the fifth round.”

Lawler still finished the fight and has never publicly revealed anything about the injury.

There’s no word yet on when Lawler will undergo surgery to repair the damage done to his knee, but a complete tear of the ACL will typically put a fighter out of action for the better part of a year.

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Thankfully, an ACL tear isn’t as severe for athletes as it was years ago with several top UFC fighters including Georges St-Pierre, Carlos Condit, and Conor McGregor all suffering a similar injury and bouncing back without any longterm effects.

Lawler competed twice in 2017 with a win over Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone before suffering the unanimous-decision loss to dos Anjos. Now it appears Lawler will be on the road to recover for the majority of 2018 as he waits for his knee to heal.