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It was expected to be an all out brawl, with two strikers duking it out until one of them hit the canvas. For nearly three and a half minutes, however, Melvin Manhoef was brutalizing Robbie Lawler with leg kicks and combinations to the body and head against the cage on Saturday night at Strikeforce: Miami on Showtime before the tables turned.
After nearly crippling Lawler's lead left leg, Manhoef missed on a punch and ended up with his left arm dangling below his waist. Lawler, after ducking through said punch, unleashed an overhand right that connected to Manhoef's jaw that staggered him and sent him to the ground. He followed through with another huge left hook on the ground that put Manhoef out cold to pick up the victory.
The bout was Manhoef's first in a major U.S. promotion, and he was looking very much on his way to a dominating victory. The CompuStrike stats showed that Manhoef landed 23 punches and numerous brutal kicks that had Lawler limping very badly around the cage following the fight, but Lawler made the best of the three punches he connected with and picked up what is one of the more impressive victories in his career.
Following the bout, Lawler was very noncommittal in his post fight interview as far as what's next for him. Commentator Stephen Quadros asked him if he was looking for a possible future rematch with division Champion Jake Shields, who will face Dan Henderson in April for that belt, and Lawler simply stated, "we'll see what happens, who knows."
The lack of an answer has further fueled speculation that what Lawler really wants to do is make a return to the UFC. With such a resounding victory after being battered for three minutes, and rebounding from the loss to Shields from last summer, Lawler may have very well punched his ticket back to the Octagon for the first time in over five years.
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