Robbie Lawler TKO’d Nick Diaz In Their Return Bout At UFC 266

In maybe his best performance since winning UFC gold, Robbie Lawler (29-15) earned a TKO victory over Nick Diaz (26-10) Saturday night at UFC 266 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The bout was a rematch 17 years in the making, where Diaz earned a second-round KO over Lawler.

Lawler opened the first round clearly with a plan to overwhelm Diaz, who was making his return to the Octagon for the first time in six years. Diaz weathered the early storm and caught his rhythm with shot after shot in what equated to stand-and-throw bout. For every great combo Lawler put together — attacking Diaz’s legs, body, and head — Diaz peppered Lawler with jabs, hooks, and uppercuts.

To open the second, Lawler appeared to hurt Diaz momentarily with a nice liver kick, but again, he worked his way around the cage and bought himself enough recovery time. Diaz tried to walk Lawler down, but the former welterweight champion stood his ground and continued to walk Diaz back instead. Lawler finished the second with a few more big shots to the body, moving to the head and forcing Diaz to yet again retreat around the cage.

In the third, Lawler opened up with big body shots and landed a huge right hook that sent Diaz to his knee. When the referee encouraged him to get back to his feet, he remained on his back to give Lawler the TKO victory.

Saturday night marked Diaz’s first fight in the UFC since drawing Anderson Silva in 2015. Lawler has now won two fights since being dismantled in August 2019 by Colby Covington.