Robbie Lawler to Defend UFC Title from Johny Hendricks in Rubber Match

Good things may come to those who wait, but the UFC certainly likes to hurry along its trilogies lately. Indeed, UFC President Dana White announced that MMA veteran Robbie Lawler will defend his welterweight belt against now-former champion Johny Hendricks. The news was disclosed at the UFC 182 media scrum by White, per Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com.

Hendricks and Lawler faced off twice in 2014, and both fights were utter nail-biters. Their first match occurred at UFC 171 in March in order to fill the vacant welterweight title left following the departure of longtime champ Georges St-Pierre. In a back-and-forth affair, Hendricks overcame a serious arm injury in order to capture UFC gold.

That arm injury, however, would put him on the shelf for a long while, and during that time, Lawler would work his way back to title contention with wins over Jake Ellenberger and Matt Brown. When they rematched at UFC 181 in December, Lawler took advantage of Hendricks' dwindling cardio and claimed the belt with explosive striking in the championship rounds.

The man left out in all of this is "The Canadian Psycho" Rory MacDonald. The Tristar Gym pupil was not just promised a title shot but also eyeballing a fight in his backyard of Montreal. However, when the buyrates for UFC 181 came back in the ballpark of 400,000, the UFC was quick to toss MacDonald aside.

At this time, there is no set date for Lawler vs. Hendricks 3; however, a likely landing spot is UFC 185, which will take place on March 14, 2015 in Dallas. Stick with Bleacher Report for more details as they become available.