Robbie Lawler började med MMA när han var tonåring och tävlade då i weltervikt och mellanvikt. Han gjorde stor succé i båda viktklasserna och tog hem titlar i ICON och Elite XC. Nu berättar han att han var borta mycket från sparring under den tiden eftersom han hade problem med yrsel.
Det här berättade Lawler, via podcasten ”The Fighter and the Kid”:
You need that [sparring/early MMA experience] to a certain extent because you don’t want someone going through this path in the game and get into a fight and be like, ’I don’t like to be hit’ or ’I don’t enjoy this at all.’ If you come in right away, and are put to the fire right away, you can decide right away if this is for you. I took like six years off from sparring, but at the time I was like, ’I know how to fight. I’ll just watch all these guys. I’ll break it down and learn mentally how to stay sharp,’ and it worked pretty well for a while. This is when I was in Strikeforce, even before that, while I was in Elite XC and ICON. I wasn’t sparring at all. When I was in Pride, I actually got hit and had vertigo and was just like, ’I don’t need to spar for a bit.’
Lawler möter härnäst Carlos Condit då han försvarar sitt bälte under UFC 195.
