Justin Lawrence was on the main card of last Saturday’s UFC 150 event at the Pepsi Center in Denver.
The pay-per-view event kicked off with a featherweight match between Lawrence and Max Holloway, two rising stars in the UFC.
Lawrence, a Pacific High School graduate, is 22 years old while Holloway is the youngest fighter on the UFC roster at 20 years of age.
Holloway, who hails from Hawaii, defeated Lawrence when the referee stopped the fight at 4:49 of the second round.
In a close, back-and-forth first round, Lawrence landed effective strikes, but Holloway opened a deep cut over Lawrence’s right eye with a right to the temple as Lawrence charged in.
Lawrence still had a solid first round with his offense consisting mostly of hard punches and kicks while pushing forward with reckless abandon.
Holloway opened up late in the second round, backing Lawrence off with a knee and dropping him with a punch to the liver.
Lawrence covered up as Holloway opened up his offense until referee Josh Rosenthal stopped the fight.
Holloway found his most success going to the body, landing a hard knee in the second frame that set up the liver punch that put Lawrence on the floor.
Holloway improved his overall record to 6-1. Lawrence dropped to 4-1.
Prior to the fight, Lawrence told The Missourian he planned to take some time off following UFC 150. He hoped to fight again in either late 2012 or early 2013.
