68 Facts About Tom Lawlor

Thomas Joseph Lawlor was born on May 15,1983 and is an American professional wrestler, retired mixed martial artist and podcast host.

Tom Lawlor is signed to both New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he was the inaugural and longest reigning NJPW Strong Openweight Champion; and Major League Wrestling, where he is a former one-time MLW World Tag Team Champion, one-time MLW World Heavyweight Champion and the winner of the first-ever Battle Riot in 2018 and the 2020 Opera Cup tournament.

Tom Lawlor was in the Light Heavyweight division of the UFC.

Tom Lawlor was born in Fall River, Massachusetts before moving to Swansea, Massachusetts, and then finally to Fort Myers, Florida.

Tom Lawlor began Brazilian jiu-jitsu in his home town of Fall River.

Tom Lawlor had a sister who died in a car accident in 2001.

Tom Lawlor dedicated his UFC on Fuel TV 9 win to his late sister.

Tom Lawlor has made himself known by imitating other fighters during the weigh-ins and octagon entrances.

In 2010, Tom Lawlor announced his intention to tone down his pre-fight antics.

Tom Lawlor won via KO just under a minute into the fight, and would subsequently take time off from MMA.

Tom Lawlor appeared on the eighth season of The Ultimate Fighter.

Tom Lawlor submitted Ryan Lopez with a rear naked choke in the elimination round to earn his spot in the TUF house.

Tom Lawlor was chosen by Frank Mir to be a part of Team Mir.

Tom Lawlor was selected to fight first against Ryan Bader and despite a good showing, Lawlor lost by knockout in the first round, due to a ground and pound punches.

Tom Lawlor won his UFC debut against former The Ultimate Fighter 8 castmate Kyle Kingsbury via unanimous decision.

Tom Lawlor won in an upset, putting Dollaway to sleep with a guillotine choke 55 seconds into the first round and was awarded Submission of the Night honors.

Tom Lawlor fought Aaron Simpson on January 11,2010, at UFC Fight Night 20.

Tom Lawlor showed off his improved striking skills in the first round by dominating Simpson, but lost a controversial split decision after gassing in the third round.

Tom Lawlor was scheduled to face Tim Credeur on May 8,2010, at UFC 113, but Credeur was forced off the card with an injury.

Tom Lawlor instead faced Joe Doerksen, losing via submission in the second round.

Tom Lawlor was expected to face Maiquel Falcao on August 27,2011, at UFC 134 but Falcao was suddenly released from the promotion on May 11.

Tom Lawlor was expected to remain on the Brazilian card, but instead took a bout against Kyle Noke on August 14,2011, at UFC on Versus 5.

However, Tom Lawlor pulled out of the fight in early July 2011.

Tom Lawlor lost to Chris Weidman on November 19,2011, at UFC 139 due to a D'Arce choke in 2:07 of the first round.

Tom Lawlor faced Jason MacDonald on May 15,2012, his birthday, at UFC on Fuel TV: Korean Zombie vs Poirier.

Tom Lawlor won the fight via KO in the first round and earned Knockout of the Night for his efforts.

Tom Lawlor fought Francis Carmont on November 17,2012, at UFC 154.

At the weigh in, Tom Lawlor wore a mask resembling that of the professional wrestler the Shockmaster and deliberately tripped going through the curtain in an homage to the Shockmaster incident.

Tom Lawlor faced Michael Kuiper on April 6,2013, at UFC on Fuel TV 9.

Tom Lawlor was expected to face Ilir Latifi in a light heavyweight bout on July 19,2014, at UFC Fight Night 46.

However, Tom Lawlor was forced out of the bout due to injury, and was replaced by promotional newcomer Chris Dempsey.

Tom Lawlor won the fight via knockout in the second round and earned a Performance of the Night bonus.

Tom Lawlor was expected to face Fabio Maldonado on November 7,2015, at UFC Fight Night 77.

However, Tom Lawlor was forced out of the bout with injury and replaced by Corey Anderson.

Tom Lawlor faced Corey Anderson on March 5,2016, at UFC 196.

On November 4,2016, Tom Lawlor was provisionally suspended from the UFC stemming from an out-of-competition drug test conducted by USADA on October 10,2016.

Tom Lawlor revealed that he failed for Ostarine, although he denied knowing the cause of the failure.

Tom Lawlor became eligible to return to competition in October 2018.

On November 24,2018, Tom Lawlor faced Deron Winn at Golden Boy Promotions's inaugural MMA event.

In March 2020, Tom Lawlor signed with Professional Fighters League and is expected to participate in the PFL season 3 light heavyweight bracket.

Tom Lawlor was set to face Jordan Johnson on April 29,2021 at PFL 2 as the start of the 2021 PFL Light Heavyweight tournament.

Tom Lawlor lost the bout via guillotine choke in the first round.

Tom Lawlor faced Jordan Young at PFL 5 on June 17,2021.

Tom Lawlor won the bout via unanimous decision and then retired by placing his gloves down in the center of the mat after the win.

On May 17,2014, Tom Lawlor made his Ring of Honor debut accompanying reDRagon as their manager against The Young Bucks in their match for the ROH World Tag Team Championship at the ROH and New Japan Pro-Wrestling co-promoted pay-per-view War of the Worlds.

Tom Lawlor returned to professional wrestling in February 2017, due to his suspension from UFC.

On May 5,2017, Tom Lawlor was advertised for Canadian promotion All Star Wrestling for their 7 July 2017 show.

Day 2, Tom Lawlor was in a Fatal Four-Way with Tracy Williams, Mike Tolar and Dominic Garrini.

Tom Lawlor lost to Mike Bailey at C4 Fighting Back 7: Wrestling With Cancer in Ottawa, Ontario on August 12,2017.

Since their 2017 relaunch, Tom Lawlor has competed in Major League Wrestling, and appears on their weekly MLW Fusion television series.

Tom Lawlor won after eliminating Jake Hager, who he went on to feud with.

Tom Lawlor followed that up by beating Sami Callihan, Shane Strickland and his former partner Simon Gotch in singles matches.

On February 2,2019, Tom Lawlor won the MLW World Heavyweight Championship from Low Ki at MLW's live SuperFight event.

Tom Lawlor would hold the title 154 days, before losing it to Jacob Fatu at Kings of Colosseum in July 2019.

Tom Lawlor would fail to defeat Fatu in a rematch for the title.

On November 14,2019, it was announced Tom Lawlor left the promotion.

Tom Lawlor turned heel on the Thanksgiving episode of Fusion by attacking Ross Von Erich with a chair during his world title bout against Jacob Fatu.

At MLW Slaughterhouse, Tom Lawlor joined forces with Matt Cardona and announced that he had signed with MLW and was part of the World Titan Federation.

Tom Lawlor immediately aligned himself with JR Kratos and Taylor Rust, forming the NJPW version of Team Filthy.

Tom Lawlor defeated the DKC in a qualifying match, Ren Narita in the first round, Hikuleo in the semi-finals, and Brody King in the finals to win the New Japan Cup USA and become the first ever NJPW Strong Openweight Champion.

In May 2021, Tom Lawlor defeated Dickinson to retain his Strong Openweight Championship at Collision.

Tom Lawlor continued to retain the title against challengers such as Satoshi Kojima, Lio Rush and Ren Narita.

Tom Lawlor made further title defences against Taylor Rust and Clark Connors before losing the title to Rosser at Collision, in a match where if Rosser lost he'd have to leave NJPW Strong, ending Lawlor's reign at 397 days.

At Dominion 6.12 in Osaka-jo Hall, Tom Lawlor was announced to be a participant in the G1 Climax 32 tournament as a part of the A Block, making his tournament debut and his NJPW debut in Japan.

Tom Lawlor ended his campaign with 6 points, failing to advance to the semi-finals.

However, Cole was pulled from the match due to an illness and Tom Lawlor faced Serpentico in a dark match at the event instead.

In May 2015, Figure Four Online launched the Filthy Tom Lawlor Show, a weekly podcast featuring Lawlor discussing MMA and professional wrestling with host Bryan Alvarez.

Tom Lawlor is the co-host of the FRB Show with Front Row Brian.