UFC 100 Preview: C.B. Dolloway vs. Tom Lawlor

C.B. Dollaway  (8-1, 2-1 UFC)  vs. Tom Lawler (5-1, 1-0 UFC)

C.B. Dollaway was an All-American wrestler at the Arizona State University and followed a similar path as many wrestlers by switching over to MMA where he won his first six fights before joining The Ultimate Fighter season seven cast.  C.B. was the early favorite through the entire show and made sure to let everyone know.  That was until he got caught in an armbar by Amir "always injured" Sadollah, twice.

Dollaway followed up the finale loss with two straight wins against fellow TUF alum Jesse "using doors are for wimps" and Mike Massenzio (who he had ironically beat in college).  Dollaway is still a bright prospect in the UFC, but definitely has a long way to go before he can contend at the top of the middleweight division.  While his fight against Massenzio was not very impressive it showed his ability to recover as C.B. was rocked once and almost choked out in the first round before preserveering in the end.

Tom Lawlor wrestled in college, won four fights, pissed in his own fruit, knocked out his good friend, and beat Kyle Kingsbury.  Oh yeah, he grew an awesome beard and trains with Seth Petruzelli. 

Lawlor was an excellent college wrestler who made his way onto The Ultimate Fighter season eight.  There Lawlor, along with the entire cast that season, displayed true frat house, meat head behavior. My kind of guy.  Meat head not so much, but it would be quite hypocritical to look down upon the frat boy because "I used to be one (Mrs. Doubtfire quote, please tell me someone gets this)."  Lawlor actually shows some potential with his only professional loss coming by disqualification.  Lawlor also trains out of American Top Team which is one of the best camps in the country.  It will be interesting to see how much he has progressed with such a strong camp.

Convential Wisdon:  Dollaway has more total fights, more UFC fights and has beaten some decent talent.  General wisdom probably gives C.B. the edge in striking and submissions.  Despite the majority of Dolloway's fights being finished by stoppage he has shown strong submission work such as being the only person to successfully use a Peruvian neck tie in the UFC.  Lawlor is the stronger of the two fighters and will most likely try to use his strength for the one punch knockout or attempt to muscle C.B. around in the clinch. 

WKR opinion: Convential wisdom will probably prevail.  Dollaway was rocked by Massenzio and showed a good chin.  Lawlor's best shot is to muscle him around.  If Lawlor can cut weight effectively (this is his first fight at Middleweight) he will be huge for that weight class.  However, a fighter's first cut in weight can be tough (Sanchez, Wanderlei, Swick) and this is enhanced when you are facing a more skilled fighter than yourself.  While I hope Lawlor wins this and we get more of him I just do not see it happening.  Lawlor becomes too aggressive and gets submitted early or he gasses and gets knocked out.