Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler will fight for the vacant UFC welterweight title at UFC 171 on March 15 in Dallas.
UFC president Dana White made the announcement on a media conference call after longtime champ Georges St-Pierre vacated the belt after announcing he is stepping away from the sport.
“It’s going to be a gun fight; it’s going to be a dog fight,” White said of the Hendricks-Lawler matchup. “This is like a Hagler-Hearns fight.”
Hendricks (15-2) is coming off a controversial split decision over St-Pierre at UFC 167 and many people, including White, thought Hendricks did enough to earn the win.
White said “Johny Hendricks went absolutely crazy” when he found out he would get another shot at the UFC title.
Lawler (22-9, 1 NC) has been on fire of late, winning three straight in the UFC in 2013. He’s coming off a split decision win over Canadian Rory MacDonald at UFC 167.
According to White, the reason Hendricks was pitted against Lawler was because Carlos Condit had already fought for a title and he was beaten by Hendricks at UFC 158 in Montreal in March.
The light-heavyweight title bout between Jon Jones and Glover Teixeira, which was originally scheduled to headline the event, has been moved and will now headline UFC 172.
A lightweight bout between Diego Sanchez and Myles Jury has also been added to the UFC 171 lineup.
