IT CAN BE all too easy to allow our interpretation of professional athletes to become obscured.
From the safe distance of an armchair, they can be dismissed as life-long adolescents, whose wealth and stature preclude them from ever having the slightest appreciation for life outside their little bubble.
At times, that particular shoe does fit. However, they haven’t got to where they are, simply by winning the genetic lottery. To distinguish themselves as elite sportsmen or women required a level of self-sacrifice and commitment that very few other professions do.
The UFC welterweight champion, Johny Hendricks, and number one contender Robbie Lawler are two men who embody such adherence to graft. From humble-beginnings in parts of America most of us have never heard of, they have reached the zenith of their sport through blood, sweat and tears.
On Saturday night, at UFC 181 in Las Vegas, Hendricks and Lawler will fight for the welterweight title of the world for the second time in less than a year. At UFC 171 last March, with the belt vacated by GSP on the line, Hendricks prevailed via unanimous decision after a 25 minute war of attrition. Their journeys to that point had many parallels:
The son of a part-time wrestling coach, Hendricks was raised on a farm in Ada, Oklahoma. At age five, his father started him doing push-ups, by nine he was ripping-off 300 a night. A standout high- school wrestler, he won three Oklahoma state wrestling championships and a national title.
Hendricks was recruited by Oklahoma State University, where he took two NCAA Division I titles and was a four-time All-American. After graduating in 2007, he moved to Las Vegas, to pursue a career in MMA.
Growing up in Iowa, Lawler also excelled in wrestling but he made the transition to mixed martial arts much earlier. At just 16, he joined the legendary Miletich Fighting Systems team.
Run by Pat Miletich, the camp was one of the pioneering MMA nurseries, and produced the likes of Matt Hughes, Jens Pulver and Jeremy Horn. A boy among men, Lawler served a gruelling apprenticeship. He made his professional debut at 19 and was in the UFC the following year. His won his first bout against Aaron Riley by unanimous decision at UFC 37 in 2001.
Within three years, Lawler had left the organisation and embarked on a decade-long journey of varying fortunes. He scraped a living by fighting for a plethora of smaller promotions – the highlight of which was being crowned the Elite XC middleweight champion in 2008.
Simultaneously, Hendricks was slowly making his way through the ranks. After a brief stint in the WEC, he arrived in the UFC in 2009. On his promotional debut, Hendricks knocked out Amir Sadollah after just 29 seconds. He won his next three fights, before Rick Story handed him his first professional loss.
Undeterred, he bounced back with a vengeance. In a two-year period, starting March 2011, he went on a six fight winning-streak, which culminated in his victory over Carlos Condit in a number one contender match at UFC 158. He was granted a title shot against GSP, many felt was long-overdue.
When news emerged early last year that the UFC had re-signed Robbie Lawler, the response was under-whelming. He had lost three of his previous four fights in Strikeforce as a middleweight and, understandably, wasn’t expected to make much of an impact.
That notion was quickly banished when he knocked out Josh Koschek on his return bout at UFC 157. In his subsequent two fights, he bettered Bobby Voelker and top-contender Rory McDonald. Lawler, as it turns out, had radically improved his approach to training, due to a switch to the American Top Team in Florida.
At UFC 167, Hendricks lost to GSP via a highly controversial split-decision. In the aftermath, St. Pierre vacated his belt and the UFC declared that Hendricks and Lawler would fight for the title at UFC 171 in Dallas, Texas. It proved to be pulsating stuff. Hendricks took the opening two rounds, before Lawler clawed his way back in the third and fourth. Using his wrestling, Hendricks did enough in the final stanza to secure the belt – validation for a lifetime of endeavour.
Hendricks has been side-lined since due to a tearing a bicep during the fight. Lawler, on the other hand, has stayed active. He knocked out Jake Ellenberger, before beating Matt Brown by unanimous decision, en-route to his second title fight in a year.
If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.