Tom Lawlor is back on Saturday night in the Liddell vs. Ortiz 3 co-main

In 2016, Tom Lawlor, longtime UFC middleweight and light heavyweight, and huge favorite of The UnderGround, had an anti-doping test flagged by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, the UFC’s independent drug testing agency. Lawlor has credibly maintained his innocence, but received a full two-year suspension for the test for Ostarine. The two-year period of ineligibility began on October 10, 2016, the date his positive sample was collected.

Lawlor had requested to be released from his contract with the UFC but was denied. He had been professional wrestling in the interim, and planned a return to the Octagon. Lawlor was a ten-year UFC vet, and 2-1 his last three when he was suspended, with the sole loss being a decision to top-10 fighter Corey Anderson. Fight before that, he knocked out Gian Villante winning a performance bonus, his fourth in the last ten fights.

However, Lawlor, now 35, was released with just two month to go on the suspension.

Honestly I think the way the UFC handled it and then cut me right before I was able to come back really f***ed things up for my whole life, said Lawlor to Chuck Mindenhall for MMA Fighting. I had spoken to people there and asked for my release and had been told ‘no,’ multiple times. So I was assuming there was some sort of plan and when my suspension was up I’d be able to come back.

“The independent wrestling doesn’t exactly pad my bank account a great deal. So I was kind of in a holding pattern, holding off on certain things, and they kind of screwed me in the end. I would have made different choices had I known the outcome during that two-year period. I thought I was doing the right thing in keeping my name out there and promoting myself. The UFC isn’t going to promote anybody. I could have sat there on my ass and done nothing for two years, but I chose to go out there and represent MMA in the independent wrestling world, and at the end of the day it hasn’t meant a whole lot.

But now Lawlor is back – he’s the co-main at Golden Boy’s Liddell vs. Ortiz 3 on Saturday, in a pro wrestling vs. wrestling fight vs. Deron Winn.

They gave me four weeks to get ready for an Olympic-caliber wrestler, when before that I had a striker in mind primarily, he says. I’ve been through fights where I had my leg torn to shreds, still come back and won. I’ve been on the end of s****y 15-minute decisions. I’ve been submitted, knocked out. All these things have happened to me. So it’s not like I’m scared of what Deron Winn can do.

I love MMA, but fighting sucks. Let’s think about this: I’m going to go out there and fight to the death against another man — another trained guy — and one of us has to win, the other has to lose. Sure there’s something awesome and primal about it, but this is a business. Being away for two years … I’m not doing this for anyone else. I’m not doing this for Golden Boy. I’m doing it to help myself and my family. Regardless, if I really want to or not, it’s what I have to do.

I’m a mercenary. Whoever is going to shell out the most money for me to complete a task, that’s pretty much what I’m looking for. It doesn’t necessarily have to be MMA. I like watching bare-knuckle boxing. I think it’s pretty cool. And Ganryujima. I would love to do f***ing moat fighting. One of the things that really captivated me was that sense of unknown when it came to MMA. What’s happened over the years is that the sport’s become so completely homogenized. A lot of the element of surprise has been taken out of it.”

I’ve done MMA — I haven’t done bare-knuckle fighting. I haven’t done a moat fight, or a stand-up rules where you can kick a guy in the nuts and win. In Korea they have open-weight fights. I want to fight a 350-pound fat guy. I want to wrestle a bear on an independent show, if they can get the bear. I’m serious. I’m down to do all these things. I’m a fighter, a combat sports athlete, not just an MMA fighter.