Tom Lawlor knocked out Jason MacDonald in under a minute at UFC on Fuel 3 Tuesday and earned a $40,000 Knockout of the Night bonus. It turns out the extra money could not have come at a better time.
Lawlor, who is known for his flamboyant entrances and joking mood, became serious in a post-fight interview with Ariel Helwani. When Helwani asked about the pressure to win after coming off a loss at UFC 139, Lawlor admitted that the pressures were financial.
"I'll be honest. I'm broke. I have no money. This money that I got today, it's going to be the first time I've deposited a check in over a year. A year and a half. This is like a big deal to me. I had to borrow money from friends and family just in order to go into this fight. I want to thank them, obviously. This means a lot to me mentally, it means a lot to my bank account."
He recently switched training camps and moved to Massachusetts to be closer to family. The cost of living and fighting just once in 2011 -- a loss to Chris Weidman at UFC 139 -- caught up with him.
"I think I miscalculated the cost of living in the Northeast," Lawlor said. "I basically took all my money, bought a house and blew through my money — just living costs, traveling, price of gas, multiple training locations."
Unlike in the four major sports leagues, fighters pay for their own training expenses. The win plus $40,000 in bonus money should help Lawlor pay back those friends and family who were kind enough to help him.
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