Lawler vs Magny Pick – UFC Vegas 8 Co Main Event

By Clint MacLean Aug 29, 2020

Lawler vs Magny pick is my last pick before tonight’s card. The legend himself Ruthless Robbie Lawler is back in action on Saturday’s UFC Vegas 8! As a UFC fan, I cannot express how excited I am. Robbie is practically the King of violence and has had a long storied career and it is going to be difficult to not use my heart when breaking this fight down.

Lawler vs Magny Odds

Robbie Lawler made his pro debut back in 2001. He has been fighting as a professional for nearly 20 years. Let that settle in. Robbie was in Elite XC, Strikeforce, and finally the UFC. Robbie was always a middle of the road struggling fighter who emphasizes action and violence over technique and strategy. He seemed to really put things together back in 2013 when he went on his UFC run that lead him to a title.

Robbie became a wrecking machine and gave us possibly the greatest MMA fight of all time when he faced Rory MacDonald and TKOd him in round 5. Robbie has vicious knockout power a strong grappling base and an iron will, but his fight on Saturday will be against Father Time rather than Neil Magny.

Robbie Lawler made his pro debut back in 2001. He has been fighting as a professional for nearly 20 years. Let that settle in. Robbie was in Elite XC, Strikeforce, and finally the UFC. Robbie was always a middle of the road struggling fighter who emphasizes action and violence over technique and strategy. He seemed to really put things together back in 2013 when he went on his UFC run that lead him to a title. Robbie became a wrecking machine and gave us possibly the greatest MMA fight of all time when he faced Rory MacDonald and TKOd him in round 5. Robbie has vicious knockout power a strong grappling base and iron will, but his fight on Saturday will be against Father Time rather than Neil Magny.

Neil is that guy who always seems to fall just short of glory. Magney comes to us from Team Elevation which is on an absolute roll right now and churning out some of the best fighters in MMA today. Neil is training with the likes of Justin Gaethje and Curtis Blaydes on a daily basis and we saw the leaps and bounds he has made in his skills when he made his comeback against The Leech just a few short months ago. Magny was brutally KOd by Santiago Ponzinibio and took 2 years off to recover and reinvent himself. Since Magny has returned to action he has been incredibly impressive. The only issue that has plagued Magny throughout his career is any time he gets that step up in competition and should break through to true contender status he gets knocked back down the ladder.

Lawler vs Magny Pick

I am a massive fan of Robbie Lawler and everything he does inside the UFC. You know what they say about old dogs and at this point, Robbie is definitely an old dog. I tend to look at fading fighters once they reach the age of 40 because at that point you just don’t have the motivation, fire, or physical abilities of a fighter in their twenties. This point counts doubly so for a fighter with the number of miles on his has Robbie. MMA is a hard and unforgiving sport. Anybody who trains in MMA will tell you that it’s hard work and you destroy your body. Add on top of all those years of training the damage Robbie has taken in his fights and I am shocked that he is still competing.

Neil Magny is a very strong wrestler and has an incredible gas tank. Magny uses his height and reach advantage to keep himself safe and then mixes in his wrestling to keep his foes on the back foot. We have seen this exact strategy work against an aging Robbie Lawler before. The high output of Colby Covington made Robbie unable to pull the trigger in his last fight and he was completely overwhelmed for a full 25 minutes. I know Magny is not Colby, but he can employ a strategy that will cause Robbie a lot of the same issues. While Robbie is a proficient grappler he is not the caliber of wrestler that Magny is and he is at a severe height and reach advantage which will allow Magny to pressure Robbie when he cannot return fire.

Honestly, I expect Magny to shut Lawler down. Robbie has shown that he is simply not the fighter that he used to be and short of landing a big KO bomb he will not be able to win against Magny over the course of 15 minutes. At this point, the line has gotten a little wide, but we have a few options. You can either use Magny as a parlay piece or play the prop for him to win by decision. Magny is the all-around better fighter at this stage in their careers but he isn’t much of a finisher. Getting Magny to win by decision at -135 is a solid bet since Robbie has proven that even these days he is incredibly hard to finish.

The Pick: Neil Magny (-250)