[h=1]Report: Robbie Lawler returns to UFC, meets Josh Koscheck at UFC 157[/h]by Matt Erickson on Dec 20, 2012 at 7:45 am ET</HEADER> Robbie Lawler will return to the UFC for the first time in more than eight years and gets a stiff test in his return in former welterweight title challenger Josh Koscheck. Lawler (19-9 MMA, 4-3 UFC) also will return to 170 pounds for the fight with Koscheck (17-6 MMA, 15-6 UFC), which is set for UFC 157 in Anaheim, Calif. The Orange County Register first reported the booking, confirming the bout with UFC officials. <IFRAME style="BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px; FILTER: alpha(opacity=0); BORDER-LEFT: 0px; WIDTH: 0px; HEIGHT: 0px; VERTICAL-ALIGN: bottom; OVERFLOW: hidden; BORDER-TOP: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT: 0px" id=t402-prompt-iframe src='javascript:""' frameBorder=0 allowTransparency></IFRAME> UFC 157 takes place Feb. 23 at Anaheim's Honda Center. The pay-per-view card will be headlined by the first women's bout in UFC history as bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey defends her belt against Liz Carmouche. A light heavyweight contenders fight between Dan Henderson and Lyoto Machida and a bantamweight bout between Urijah Faber and Ivan Menjivar also have been announced for the show. Lawler left the UFC following a submission loss to Evan Tanner at UFC 50. He went on to win middleweight titles for Icon Sport and EliteXC before moving to Strikeforce in 2009 after a nearly yearlong layoff following EliteXC's collapse. In Strikeforce, Lawler's run was up and down. He went 3-5 in the promotion, dropping fights to Jake Shields, Renato "Babalu" Sobral, Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza, Tim Kennedy and Lorenz Larkin. But when he was on, he was ferocious. His three wins were brutal first-round knockouts of Melvin Manhoef, Matt Lindland and Adlan Amagov, the most recent coming this past January. But a July unanimous decision loss to Larkin gave Lawler three losses in his past four fights. He'll look to rebound with the return to welterweight, where he fought for the first 10 bouts of his career, including a 4-1 start in the UFC that included a win over Chris Lytle. After a loss to Nick Diaz at UFC 47, he moved from welterweight tot middleweight for the fight with Tanner and, with the exception of a 182-pound catch weight fight against Shields and 195-pound catch weight bout against Sobral, has fought at 185 pounds ever since. Koscheck was scheduled to fight Jake Ellenberger this past September, but was forced out of the fight with a back injury. Now he returns looking to get back in the win column after a split-decision loss to current welterweight title contender Johny Hendricks in May at UFC on FOX 3. Koscheck was on the shelf for nine months after a unanimous decision loss to champion Georges St-Pierre at UFC 124 two years ago. But when he returned, he did so in a big way with a "Knockout of the Night" win over UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes at UFC 135. After being booked for a fight with Carlos Condit at UFC 143, Koscheck instead fought Mike Pierce when Condit was moved into an interim welterweight title fight against Diaz. He beat Pierce by split decision and admitted to being uninspired with the matchup. The loss to Hendricks was a contentious one. But Koscheck did what former teammate Jon Fitch and recent contender Martin Kampmann could not do against Hendricks by not only going the distance, but getting out of the first minute with him. With the welterweight booking, the latest UFC 157 card now includes: [*=left]Ronda Rousey vs. Liz Carmouche - for women's bantamweight title [*=left]Dan Henderson vs. Lyoto Machida [*=left]Urijah Faber vs. Ivan Menjivar [*=left]Lavar Johnson vs. Brendan Schaub [*=left]Josh Koscheck vs. Robbie Lawler* [*=left]Court McGee vs. Josh Neer* [*=left]Mike Chiesa vs. Anton Kuivanen [*=left]Neil Magny vs. Jon Manley*
Good card but what a shame that Machida versus Hendo (Which is very likely to would have went beyond 3 rounds) is not the main event. Ronda will finish that chick off in 30 seconds so what's the point of her getting the 5 round slot... And as far as Lawler versus Koscheck goes I think it's a crappy match up. Koscheck will take him down and bore us to a UD. Some strikers they do really well with matching them up against fellow strikers (Pat Barry, Levar Johnson etc) but some they just waste and put up against wrestlers which is rather stupid.
Kos thinks he's a striker though so he may try to stand with Lawler. He'll probably still win that way too though. Kos by what ever he wants really.
because they need bodies to fill cards. He's a name. And don't count Robbie out of this one. He still has power, if Kos stands with him he's an idiot.
He won't imo. Kos likes to strike, but only with guy's he knows aren't good at it. He grappledfucked Dailey and I expect he'll do the same to Lawler
Kos will definitely wrestlehump Lawler. Lawler better hope all that bareback-style with Matt Hughes taught him how to defend a takedown. Still Koscheck's gonna hold him down for three exciting rounds.
I think Koscheck can win this standing or by wrestling. Lawler has good power but terrible boxing. And despite all his work with Hughes and Pat Miletech, his takedown defense is absolute crap. This is walk over for Kos and probably a farewell for Lawler.
