Jorge Masvidal has taken some heat for how he celebrated his jaw-dropping, brutal knockout of Ben Askren at UFC 239. But, don’t expect Robbie Lawler to criticize how his former teammate acted after scoring the record fast win.

Masvidal and Askren traded verbal shots leading up to the recent bout, and as the event neared, it was clear that “Gamebred” was burning to make “Funky” pay for some of the things he had said. Well, Masvidal proceeded to bomb Askren out with a flying knee and punches just five seconds in. After he did so, he pounded the Octagon floor in celebration and also mimicked how the stiffened Askren was laying on the floor.

Those actions prompted some observers to criticize Masvidal. But when Lawler was asked to weigh-in on the situation, during an appearance on the Ebro in the Morning show, “Ruthless” said this (quotes via MMA Mania).

“I know Askren runs his mouth and when you run your mouth, stuff like this happens,” Lawler said. “When someone is running their mouth, then you gotta fight. I’m an old school guy where I don’t think Masvidal did anything wrong. He was celebrating, he handled himself as a professional.

“If you don’t want somebody to dance on top of you, you don’t get beat up, you don’t run your mouth.”

Yup. While Masvidal’s been criticized by some observers, there’s certainly plenty of others who feel the way Lawler does. It should also be noted here that Askren faced Lawler back in March, and was awarded a controversial, technical submission win. Lawler vehemently denied that he went out from the choke Askren was applying, and afterward, the latter said he wasn’t interested in a rematch.

Lawler is booked to fight Colby Covington at UFC Newark on August 3rd.

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