Robbie Lawler Looks To “Fulfill The Vision” Of Miletich Fighting Systems At UFC 171

This weekend, Robbie Lawler has the chance to make mixed martial arts history.

The long-time veteran of the sport takes on Johny Hendricks in the main event of UFC 171, and the winner of the bout will be crowned the new UFC welterweight champion.

It will be the first time anyone other than Georges St-Pierre has held the promotion’s 170-pound title in nearly six years, and if Lawler wins he’ll be just the seventh man in UFC history to wear that shiny belt.

Only seven men in UFC history, despite literally hundreds of men entering the Octagon as welterweights trying to move their way up the ladder to win that crown since the dawn of weight classes. Think about that for a second, and it’s pretty incredible that Lawler is in this situation, considering how his career has played out.

“Ruthless” was in his early twenties when he made his UFC debut back in 2002 at UFC 37 as a hyped-up prospect out of the Miletich Fighting Systems camp in Bettendorf, Iowa who was known for his vicious knockout power and aggressive style. Lawler had some early success in the Octagon, but after a string of losses, he was let go despite his potential, and spent nearly eight years bouncing around different organizations across the globe before finally returning to the UFC in 2013 after the fall of Strikeforce.

As well all know, Lawler was considered washed-up by most observers of the sport, and absolutely no one thought much about his return to the UFC. But after upsetting Josh Koscheck at UFC 157, knocking out Bobby Voelker with a head kick at UFC on FOX 8, and defeating Rory MacDonald via split decision in a title eliminator at UFC 167, Lawler is finally getting a shot at what has eluded him his entire career, until now. And that is, of course, a shot at the UFC welterweight title, arguably the most prestigious title there is in the sport, and the reason why nearly every 170-pounder in mixed martial arts started his career in the sport.

On Wednesday on Twitter, Matt Hughes and Pat Miletich – Lawler’s old training partner and his old coach, respectively — exchanged some tweets about Lawler’s title fight this weekend, and Miletich left a comment that will stick with me for a long time, tweeting to Hughes that he was excited for UFC 171 so he could see Lawler “fulfill the vision.”

Miletich didn’t define exactly what he meant by that comment, but to me it’s pretty obvious what it means. It means that one of the Miletich Fighting Systems camp’s goals was for Hughes to be the long-time welterweight champ and pass down the belt to Lawler at same point. In other words, fulfill the vision of one of the sport’s all-time legendary camps, because don’t forget that before Hughes was the champion, it was his mentor Miletich who held the belt. The vision, then, must have been to keep the belt in the MFS camp forever. And while GSP disrupted the timeline when he defeated Hughes all those years ago, ironically, St-Pierre stepping away from thesport a few months go has reopened the possibility of that vision being fulfilled.

It doesn’t even matter that Lawler trains at American Top Team in Florida now, or that Hughes is retired and out of the spotlight, or that Miletch is doing commentary gigs for AXS TV. What matters is that the Miletich camp planned to have Hughes as the welterweight champion of the world, and for Lawler to succeed him at some point for the crown. That Hughes lost the belt nearly a decade ago isn’t relevant, because there was likely no time limit placed on this vision. The only thing that matters now is that Lawler wins the title this weekend and fulfills it.

Should Lawler defeat Hendricks and be crowned the new UFC welterweight champion, in my opinion this will go down as one of the most incredible stories of perseverence in the sport of MMA. Absolutely no one ever thought Lawler would even return to the UFC one day, let alone win a title, so for him to even be in a position to grab the belt is amazing enough. And the fact that he has a very good chance to win it is even more special.

Pat Miletich. Matt Hughes. Jens Pulver. Tim Sylvia. All former Miletich Fighting Systems products, and all former UFC champions. And on Saturday night in Dallas, Texas, you might be able to add Robbie Lawler to that list of champions. And if that happens, the vision of MFS will truly be fulfilled.