On Saturday, Dec. 6, the UFC hosted UFC 181: Hendricks vs. Lawler 2 from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
In the night’s main event, welterweight champion Johny Hendricks squared off with the man he defeated to capture the belt, Robbie Lawler. The pair battled for five rounds at UFC 171 in March, with Hendricks earning the decision win and the vacant, 170-pound title. Since then, Hendricks had been out of action due to a torn biceps. Lawler, however, returned to his winning ways, stopping Jake Ellenberger and outlasting Matt Brown to earn another crack at UFC gold.
The co-main event of the evening also featured a championship belt on the line as lightweight champion Anthony Pettis returned from a lengthy injury layoff to face off with former Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez. Pettis had been on the shelf since submitting Benson Henderson at UFC 164 last August. Melendez had also been out of action since 2013, after nearly signing with Bellator MMA. Melendez was coming off a decision win over Diego Sanchez. Pettis and Melendez served as the coaches for The Ultimate Fighter 20.
The 11-fight event kicked off Saturday at 7 p.m. ET with two fights streaming on UFC Fight Pass. Four additional preliminary card bouts followed at 8 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1, with the five-fight main card airing live on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET.
For the full results of the event, click here.
Above are video highlights of the preliminary card bout between Samman and Gordon (courtesy of the UFC).
Anthony Pettis vs. Gilbert Melendez – for lightweight title
Travis Browne vs. Brendan Schaub
Todd Duffee vs. Anthony Hamilton
Tony Ferguson vs. Abel Trujillo
Eddie Gordon vs. Josh Samman
Corey Anderson vs. Justin Jones
Ashlee Evans-Smith vs. Raquel Pennington
Clay Collard vs. Alex White