SIGNATURE WINS: Urijah Faber (twice), Jeff Curran, Leonard Garcia, Mark Hominick, Yves Edwards
Much of the attention on Robbie Lawler following his victory over Johny Hendricks at UFC 181 and the welterweight title that accompanied it focused on the fact that he was American Top Team’s first world champion after a long drought. That formulation, however, overlooks the fact that the Coconut Creek, Fla., gym did in fact have a previous world champion, even if he has now been largely forgotten.
A native of Maine and former collegiate wrestler at Norwich University, Brown came out of nowhere to claim the WEC belt from longtime titleholder Urijah Faber in 2008. Granted, the pre-merger WEC featherweight division was not on par with the UFC’s welterweight class, but it was a legitimate title and Brown was a legitimate champion. It was not just that he defeated Faber -- the face of the WEC for most of its run as a promotion -- but that Brown viciously finished him in their first meeting and then beat him convincingly by decision in their rematch.
Brown’s combination of powerful wrestling, solid grappling and potent boxing might have been enough to make him a long-term champion had he not run into a buzz-sawing Brazilian by the name of Jose Aldo, who beat him from pillar to post to claim the title in November 2009. Unfortunately for Brown, age and the wear and tear of a long career caught up to him shortly thereafter, and he went 2-3 in a disappointing run to end his time as a mixed martial artist.
That was not the end of Brown. Now one of the head MMA coaches at American Top Team, he is a fixture as a cornerman and an experienced everyday presence in the lives of fighters like Lawler, Will Brooks, Dustin Porier, Tecia Torres and a whole boatload of other elite competitors and up-and-comers. Not bad for a guy who was a 5-to-1 underdog against Faber all those years ago.
Number 6 » His grinding style was based on dragging his opponents to the ground more through sheer will than any particularly explosive repertoire of takedowns and then beating them up from top position until they quit or the final bell rang. He was also tremendously outspoken and made his displeasure clear on more than one occasion.