When will Robbie Lawler return? Is he going to retire?

Robbie Lawler, the former UFC welterweight champion, will call it quits after his fight against Niko Price at UFC 290 on July 8 in Las Vegas. Lawler’s retirement was announced by UFC president Dana White, who also said that he would be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame only two days before his fight as part of the International Fight Week celebrations. Lawler will be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame with Rory MacDonald after their epic fight at UFC 189 in 2015.

“I found Robbie Lawler when he was 19 years old and UFC 290 will be the final fight of his amazing 22-year career,” White announced on social media.

Lawler vs. Price will headline the UFC 290 preliminary card, which will air on ABC before to the pay-per-view, which begins at 10 p.m. ET. The 41-year-old veteran has been fighting professionally since 2001, when he made his debut, with Lawler finally joining the UFC team a little over a year later. Before leaving the UFC in 2005, Lawler had multiple highlight reel finishes.

Lawler competed in many organizations during his time away from the promotion, including a term as middleweight champion in Elite XC before finally signing with Strikeforce, where he spent three years of his career. Lawler later returned to the UFC, where he won the welterweight championship in 2014, and defended it twice more, including the 2016 Fight of the Year against Carlos Condit.

Lawler vs. Price will top the UFC 290 preliminary card, which also features another welterweight showdown between Jack Della Maddalena and Sean Brady, as well as Yazmin Jauregui vs. Denise Gomes. The main card for UFC 290 was also revealed on Thursday, with Alexander Volkanovski facing Yair Rodriguez in a featherweight title unification clash.

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Robbie Lawler will retire at UFC 290

According to UFC president Dana White, Robbie Lawler will retire from MMA combat at UFC 290. Lawler’s fight versus Price will take place just two days after he is inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame’s “Fight Wing.” He was inducted into the MMA Hall of Fame in 2023 for his battle against Rory MacDonald in 2015, which many consider to be one of the greatest MMA fights of all time.

In 2020, Bloody Elbow readers chose Lawler vs. MacDonald in UFC 189 as the “Greatest MMA Fight to Watch of All Time.” The induction of their fight into the UFC Hall of Fame was announced during the April broadcast of UFC 287. Lawler will be back for the first time in little over a year when he meets Prices this July. His most recent fight was at UFC 276, where Bryan Barberena stopped him with blows late in the second round. The bout followed a protracted sequence of disappointing outings for Lawler, prevailing in only one of his past six appearances.

During that time, he defeated Nick Diaz at UFC 266 in 2021. During that period, he was defeated by Neil Magny, Colby Covington, Ben Askren, and Rafael dos Anjos. Price will also be eager to get back into the victory column. His previous fight occurred in December when Philip Rowe pulled up a third-round finish against him. He had previously defeated Alex Oliveira. Price’s victory over Oliveira was his first after two defeats (to Michel Perreira and Vicente Luque) and a no-contest against Donald Cerrone.

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