It seems like such a short time ago that EliteXC’s middleweight title fight between champion "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler (Pictures) and challenger Scott "Hands of Steel" Smith (Pictures) was stopped prematurely due to Lawler unintentionally poking Smith in the eye.
For Lawler vs. Smith, an unabashedly violent mano y mano slugfest between two of the sport’s premier knockout artists, was the stuff of MMA enthusiasts’ dreams, clearly shaping up to be a fight of the year contender before it was declared a no contest at 3:26 of the third round.
Wait a minute. It was such a short time ago. Like May 31, less than two months past. Realizing it had a ratings winner on its hands -- it was MMA’s first-ever primetime broadcast on free network television, a true cultural zeitgeist unequivocally trumpeting the skyrocketing, ever-more-popular sport’s arrival in the mainstream -- Elite wasted little time in announcing Lawler/Smith 2, this Saturday at the Stockton Arena in Stockton, Calif.
Now that’sone quick rematch, one that goes a long way to relieve Smith’s -- and fans’ -- frustration. Sweetening things even more for the two fighters is that whereas Kimbo Slice was the big draw on May 31, this time around, Elite and CBS are showcasing Lawler and Smith at the top of the card.
“The one thing about that first fight -- I mean obviously he dominated me in the first round and I was clearly coming back in the second and third and I had him stunned a couple times … and I’m really thinking in my head, ‘Man, I got this fight, it’s in my hands,’” Smith told Sherdog.com. “To go from that to a fight stoppage from an eye gouge is so, you know, so devastating. So yeah, I’m excited to get to do it again right away.
“CBS was real happy with the numbers they got, and I think obviously CBS and EliteXC both saw that no matter what, me and Lawler are always going to put on an exciting show. So it makes for a great main event.”
Indeed. The first two-and-change rounds of their first throwdown were so exciting that EliteXC President Gary Shaw awarded both fighters their win bonuses and announced an immediate rematch.
Lawler, 26, ranked by Sherdog.com the No. 4 middleweight in the world with a professional record of 17-4-0 (1 NC), is favored by oddsmakers, as he was in their first encounter, to best the unranked Smith, 29, whose record stands at 13-4-0 (1 NC).
But not if Smith has anything to do with it. That first fight still fresh in his head, Smith said he plans to make a few adjustments in his rematch game plan.
“Very similar game plan. I just need to change a few things,” Smith said. “I got hit way too much in that fight. And instead of going straight back, I need to circle a little bit more with my head movement.
“He did a real good job of sitting back and not walking in and playing into my game as just a slugfest,” Smith continued. “That’s what I kinda … even when I lost to (Patrick) Cote (at UFC 67 last year), I wait for people to come into me, but that hasn’t been working out too well, so I just need to tweak my game a little bit and change it around to where I need to set things up. I do a lot of high kicks without setting them up. I need to set those kinds of things up. He could see them coming from a mile away. I need to throw some combos and then throw those kicks.”
What does he see as the holes in Lawler’s game?
Uh, nothing.
“Robbie’s improved a ton as a fighter,” Smith said. “He’s gotten a lot smarter. I don’t really see any holes in his game. He doesn’t have any weaknesses. Some guys say, ‘Oh, I want to get him to the ground or I want to stand with him.’ He’s tough no matter where you put him. So I just have to go out there and catch him, is what I got to do.
“I think I can trade with him for five rounds, but I think (if) we go the distance, he’s more of a technical fighter, he would pull off a decision.”
While he obviously wants to keep the fight on his feet, Smith said he has no problem fighting on the ground.
“In the last fight, I was expecting him to try to take me to the ground,” Smith said. “I was kind of shocked that he waited until the second round to even shoot on me, but I’m real confident in my ground game right now. But I’m not gonna put the fight there unless I absolutely have to, if I get in trouble. Which, the first round in the last fight, I was in trouble, but I didn’t try to take him to the ground. I just need to keep that in my playbook this time if I do get in trouble.”
Smith has been training with the same crew he usually surrounds himself with: world-class muay Thai trainer Ganyao Fairtex; wrestling coach Mark Munoz (Pictures), a former NCAA national wrestling champion at Oklahoma State who fights for the WEC; light heavyweight Tim McKenzie (Pictures), who also fights in the WEC; and UFC light heavyweight James Irvin (Pictures) (though with his own fight against UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva (Pictures) last weekend, Irvin understandably didn’t have much time to help Smith out for the Lawler rematch).
Smith’s training centers at the Ultimate Training Center gym in Roseville, Calif., outside Sacramento, which he and Irvin own with a third partner. But he trained last week at the Striking Unlimited gym in Las Vegas, where he spent several days leading up to the Silva/Irvin fight (Smith cornered Irvin). “All my coaches were there,” Smith said.
Smith readily admitted he’s not a training freak like say, the Forrest Griffin (Pictures)s of the MMA world, limiting his workouts for the Lawler rematch to about three hours a day, six days a week.
“My practices are fairly short,” Smith said. “I do about an hour of grappling, an hour of Thai and about an hour of weights and cardio. There are some days you take off a day of Thai or a day of grappling, but anywhere between two to three hours a day. I’m not one of these guys who is going to lie to you and say I train eight hours a day.”
Health-wise, Smith said he feels great.
“The eye’s not an issue. The foot’s not an issue,” he said. “After the first fight, they had told me backstage my foot was broke. I couldn’t even walk on it that night. It was twice the size of my other foot. They told me, ‘It’s too swollen to even put a cast on it, so go back home and get it X-rayed and cast it up.’ I get back home and … no break.”
He started running about a week later and a week after that, began his muay Thai practices.
Prediction?
“Uh, my prediction, knockout,” Smith said.
Did he want to pick a round?
“I’m gonna say second round,” he said. “I don’t plan on going the distance in this fight. I will try not to be a slow starter, but I’m notorious for it. So I’m gonna get my rhythm with these new things I’m working on and I’ll pick it up in the second.”
Whatever the outcome -- and really, predictions are just so much media-driven hype, as frequently wrong as they are right -- hopefully it won’t be due to something as deeply frustrating to fighter and fan alike as another unintentional eye gouge.