Bryan Barberena vs. Robbie Lawler
UFC: Saturday, July 2nd at 10:00 PM ET
The Line: -- Bryan Barberena +100 / Robbie Lawler -120 Click Here for the Latest Odds
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Robbie Lawler and Bryan Barberena face off on Saturday in a welterweight bout at UFC 276 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Robbie “Ruthless” Lawler comes into this fight with a 29-15 record overall but he has lost four of his last five fights. Lawler had lost four fights in a row heading into his last fight against Nate Diaz. Lawler was actually outstruck 150-131 but early in the third round, he finished the fight by knockout. Diaz ended up gassed and Lawler took advantage, but he didn’t look all that great in the fight. Two fights ago against Neil Magny, Lawler was outstruck 62-26 and ended up losing by unanimous decision. Lawler is still a very popular fighter but this is probably the twilight of his career. Lawler is averaging 3.73 significant strikes per minute while absorbing 4.42 significant strikes per minute. He also stops 65 percent of his opponent's takedown attempts.
On the other side of this matchup is Bryan “Bam Bam” Barberena who comes into this fight with a 17-8 record overall and he has won two fights in a row. His last fight came against Matt Brown in March of 2022 and he won by split decision. He outstruck Brown 111-81, but was also taken down five times in that fight. Barberena is averaging 5.61 significant strikes per minute while absorbing 4.83 significant strikes per minute. He wants to keep the fight on the feet, but stopping the takedown was an issue in the last fight.
Both of these fighters love to brawl and this should be quite the show. Lawler finally got back in the win column in his last fight, and I expect he is going to continue the success here. Lawler takes a ton of damage, but I still think he is the better fighter here, and he has what it takes to come out of a war. This is going to be a close battle but Lawler will inflect a little more damage and secure the victory.