Las Vegas native Tom Lawlor adapts his showmanship UFC 196 stage

Perhaps more than any other competitor in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Las Vegan Tom Lawlor is a showman at heart.

There have been times throughout his career when his elaborate walkouts and desire to entertain has overshadowed the fact that he is an athlete who wants to make the most of his talent inside the cage.

Lawlor, however, is coming off a big upset win over Gian Villante and has another big opportunity on tap that could vault him up the rankings as he faces Corey Anderson on the main card of UFC 196 at MGM Grand on Saturday.

“I think people in the past have kind of looked at me like a jokester or whatnot, but this is kind of my opportunity to go out there and put myself on a three-fight winning streak on such a huge stage,” he said Monday. “The last fight was on Fox, which also had a lot of people tuned in. But this is an even bigger stage and come Sunday I think a lot of people are going to be talking about me.”

Lawlor defeated Michael Kuiper by submission in April 2013, then missed more than two years of cage time as he dealt with injuries and traveled around coaching and training. He also continued his longtime flirtation with professional wrestling, a passion that has helped form some of the charisma for which he is so well-known.

He returned for the fight against Villante, moving back up to light heavyweight, where he had started his career. Lawlor felt like he was being served up as a sacrificial lamb, but he scored a knockout of Villante just 27 seconds into the second round.

Lawlor, 32, once again finds himself as an underdog against Anderson.

“A lot of people view this as a showcase fight for Corey Anderson. In July, a lot of people looked at my fight with Gian Villante as a showcase fight for him. Fortunately for me and unfortunately for him, it didn’t work out that way,” Lawlor said. “This Saturday is going to be much the same story. I’m a big underdog and that’s fine. I’m undefeated in Las Vegas and it will remain that way.”

What will also stay unchanged is Lawlor’s move to light heavyweight. He says he’s done dropping down to 185 pounds and feels confident he can become a contender.

“I’m no longer in college so I’m done experimenting. This weight class for me is really good. In a lot of cases, speed kills. At 185, it’s not like I was bigger than the guys I was fighting and I certainly didn’t have a speed advantage,” he said. “Now if I can get a little bit of an edge against these guys, I’ll take it. Generally I’ll be in a little better condition than they are. If you look at the top 15 guys at 185 pounds, they’re all really tough. I’ve already fought one of the top 15 guys at 205 and defeated him. So no reservations at all about making this jump.

“I never grew up saying I want to be the middleweight champion of the world. I always wanted to be as big as I could be and as good as I could be. I don’t know if I’ll ever make it up to be a legit heavyweight, but light heavyweight is good for me.”

That was a choice Lawlor was able to make for himself. Abandoning his popular walkout routines was a different story.

For much of his career, fans would speculate on what persona Lawlor would take on for both his weigh-in and walkout to the cage. Once he dressed as UFC legend Dan Severn, complete with a creepy mustache. He also once came out as Apollo Creed.

He speaks of a time he learned the entire dance to the New Kids on the Block hit “Hangin’ Tough” and performed it as he walked to the cage for a fight before entering the UFC.

All that is gone because of the UFC’s new uniform policy, however. Fighters are required to wear the Reebok fight kits, a rule that has drawn criticism from many fighters because it limits sponsorships.

For Lawlor, the problem was more about limiting his creativity.

“The whole paying homage to past characters or having big grand entrances, that’s part of me. I’m a huge MMA fan, a huge PRIDE fan, a huge Pancrase fan. I’m a huge fan of pro wrestling. I’ve done my history work and research on the sport since its inception,” he said. “Obviously it’s a sport and a martial art, but there’s also a huge entertainment aspect involved. That’s basically what I was trying to bring.”

Lawlor was bummed about the change when he returned for the Villante fight, but admits it may have helped him stay a bit more relaxed as he walked out to the cage.

“Unfortunately my walkouts may be done because of the Reebok deal, but at the same time, it may have changed the way I approach the fight just slightly, in a good way,” he said.

Not that he regrets putting on the shows he has in the past.

Lawlor said it was about entertaining both himself and the fans, as well as finding his own niche in the sport.

“It’s part of my personality. You look across the sport, there’s people known for different things. The Diaz brothers are known for being brash and saying whatever they want. Conor McGregor is known as being braggadocious,” he said. “I had to find something that kind of fit my personality a little more.

”I like to let my actions do the speaking for me rather than running down my opponents or talking about how much better I am. But I do believe that inside. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be fighting.”

Lawlor gets another chance to prove it against Anderson on Saturday.

A win would put him in a great spot with three consecutive wins sandwiched around a long layoff.

“I’m really fortunate to be in this position after being gone a long time to have an opportunity to come back against a ranked opponent like Villante was and especially to beat him and now I get an opportunity to fight a guy who’s ranked even higher. I’m more than happy with where I am right now, but that doesn’t mean I’m complacent,” Lawlor said. “I want to keep going higher up on the card. I want more eyes on me. I want to be on the poster. I want to be headlining shows. All that stuff is something I want in my future. This is just another step on that road.”

He’s already proven he’s more than the class clown. Now Lawlor has his sights on becoming the valedictorian.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509. Follow him on Twitter: @adamhilllvrj