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Matt Riddle And 'Filthy' Tom Lawlor Are Ready For Their No Holds Barred Match At MLW Fightland

A unique matchups with two former UFC stars comes to MLW Fightland.

Steven Muelhausen

Matt Riddle (left) and Tom Lawlor (right) battle at MLW Fightland in a Vale Tudo, No Holds Barred Match.
Matt Riddle (left) and Tom Lawlor (right) battle at MLW Fightland in a Vale Tudo, No Holds Barred Match. / MLW

When MLW announced a No Holds Barred, Vale Tudo rules match between Matt Riddle and Tom Lawlor at Saturday's MLW Fightland, the sentiment among fans was, 'What is Vale Tudo'?

MLW describes it as: "Before MMA was an organized sport, pit fighters would battle in the underground fight world of Brazil in no-rules, no-holds-barred martial arts street fights. They called it Vale Tudo Rules! A dangerous, controversial, and arguably barbaric form of combat sports, Vale Tudo tests the limits of human endurance, skill, and sheer will to survive."

So what better way to book this historic matchup than pit two of the toughest people in pro wrestling against one another. Both Riddle and Lawlor fought in the UFC before making their transition to inside the squared circle. Riddle went 7-3 with two no-contests inside the octagon, while Lawlor sported a 6-5 record with four of those wins coming via stoppage.

"It's a pretty good match," Riddle said to The Takedown. "I've done enough fights in the UFC. I've done some Vale Tudo. But when you start adding Vale Tudo to the world of pro wrestling, and you translate what Vale Tudo means, it means anything goes. Me personally, I like to keep it in the ring, keep it snug, keep it physical, especially when I'm in the ring with somebody like ‘Filthy’ Tom Lawlor."

"I’m looking out for Matt Riddle, that’s for sure," Lawlor told The Takedown. "If you're going to talk about tough guys, l think there's three guys you put up there, and it's me, Josh Barnett and Matt Riddle. Now you got two of them in a No Holds Barred Vale Tudo Fight this weekend. So if he thinks he's a better grappler, then he can prove it."

When it comes to what to expect out of a unique contest like this, it's hard to say what will happen once Riddle and Lawlor come face-to-face to battle.

"I'll say that I think me and Tom Lawlor is going to be a pretty brutal match, Riddle explained. "He's a lot like me. He hits really hard. I wouldn't say he's the best striker. I wouldn't say I'm the best striker, but we both hit really hard. We both have really good chins, and we both have really good submissions. We're both really tough and really good."

"I don’t know what to expect here," Lawlor honestly said. "I'm looking for a one-on-one sporting contest with Matt Riddle, and I don't know what MLW is going to try to interject."

When it boils down to it, there has to be a winner and a loser of the No Holds Barred, Vale Tudo rules match at MLW Fightland. The rivalry between them in MLW goes back to 2018. Naturally, Riddle and Lawlor have different perspectives on how the matchup is going to play out and whose hand the referee will be raising.

"The fact that we're both at MLW means we're both killing it, and we're both in great shape, and we both know what we're doing," Riddle excitedly said. "I have a feeling this one at MLW Fightland in Atlanta, Georgia at Center Stage, this is going to be one for the record books. I've wrestled and fought Tom a couple of times in the past, and I usually get the better of him. I would never say I'd win but let's be real, I'll probably win. He's a great guy. But at MLW Fightland, I got to put the beats on him and I beat him."

"My prediction is a TKO win," Lawlor boldly claims. "Matt Riddle’s a great amateur wrestler. You know his submission skills. I don't know how many submission wins he had in the UFC, but I've got some on my record. 

But I don't think he could take a beating like I can. He's a front-runner. I've been in fights where I had my leg destroyed, torn my ACL, MCL and Meniscus in a fight, and I won that fight. I came back and won that. I've been through adversity more than he has, and I'm going to put it on him."

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Steven Muelhausen
STEVEN MUELHAUSEN

: Steven Muehlhausen is a veteran combat sports writer for various outlets including Sporting News and Yahoo Sports. He can be reached at stevemuehlhausen@yahoo.com and followed on Twitter @SMuehlhausenJr.

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