‘I Always Liked Mike Tyson’: UFC Hall of Famer Explains Influence That Fueled His ‘Ferocious’ MMA Persona

From fighting with half his lip hanging to knocking out Rory McDonald at UFC 189, that made Joe Rogan exclaim, “That wasn’t one punch. That was years of fighting coming to fruition“, ‘Ruthless’ Robbie Lawler was one of the most feared fighters of his time.

But the 2025 UFC Hall of Famer credits his influence to one of the greatest pugilists of all time- ‘Iron Mike Tyson’. Although Tyson never really got hurt the way Lawler did, it was the intention he put into every punch that influenced Lawler throughout his career.

Tyson had his bullies as a child, one of them infamously killed his pigeon, forcing Mike to become the fierce man he became. Thankfully, the majority of Lawler’s trauma came from only being roughed up by his older brother. “I want to hurt this guy” is what went through little Robbie’s mind every time he hit a bag. Fortunately, he knew how, thanks to Tyson.

Speaking to former UFC welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman, ‘Ruthless‘ said, “Growing up, I always liked Mike Tyson, so it was just like when I hit the bag growing up, I was hitting the bag a certain way, I wasn’t just like touching it. I was trying to crush the freaking bag.”

Crushing is definitely something he did in one of the most memorable fights he’s ever had, which comes up every time someone gets into a conversation with Lawler. And who can blame them?

It’s one of those fights that you show your friend to get them into watching MMA and becoming a fan, which, as it turns out, Usman was!

Lawler’s mindset against MacDonald

The UFC 189 brawl between Lawler and MacDonald was inducted into the UFC Hall Of Fame’s Fight Wing back in 2023, and rightfully so. This fight had everything that a fight fan would want to see. Two strikers going up against each other, dealing significant damage to one another throughout the fight, and a last round KO to top things off.

One famous moment from the fight was when Lawler, with his lip split open, spat the blood on the floor, almost mocking his opponent.

This moment left Usman with goosebumps, and he wanted to know what was going on in Lawler’s mind. Lawler’s answer was true to his moniker, said, “What’s going through my mind at the time was, ‘Quit running motherf*cker.’

“But he wasn’t running, he was being tactical. I looked at him and I freaking spit that blood on the ground thinking like let’s go. And that’s kind what that staredown was,” he noted.

Chiming in with how he saw the fight, Olympic gold medalist and former two division champion, Henry Cejudo said, “It was more like a primal, kind of like kill or be killed type sh*t.” 

MMA is known to thrive on overhyping the magnitude of fights, but this is not one of those cases. The fight was so brutal that the 16,000 fans at the Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas stood up on their feet to applaud the two warriors.