The UFC 154 middleweight bout between Tom Lawlor and Francis Carmont was one of those fights that was hard to score. Lawlor was pretty relentless with takedown attempts against the cage, but he was only able to get Carmont to the floor in the second round. Neither fighter was especially active while striking, but Carmont's work in rounds one and three was apparently enough to take a split decision win. The scores were 29-28, 28-29, 29-28. It wasn't a robbery, but it was a bit puzzling since Lawlor was the aggressor for most of the 15 minutes.

Lawlor immediately pushed Carmont against the cage and grinded away. The fighters exchanged blows inside until the referee separated them. Carmont landed some kicks to the body before Lawlor moved it back to the cage. Carmont hit a standing kimura to reverse and separate. Carmont looked for a takedown and Lawlor immediately locked up a guillotine and pulled uard. Carmont survived to the end of the round though.

Carmont looked to establish his range early in the second, and landed some nice kicks. Lawlor pushed him back against the cage after a bit of that, but Carmont got away quickly. Lawlor worked hard for some takedowns against the cage, but Carmont's wrist control kept him at bay for a while. Finally Lawlor got a takedown with two minutes to go. Carmont got up, but got taken back down with one minute to go.Carmont attacked from the bottom, but Lawlor slipped away and grabbed another guillotine. Once again, Carmont survived.

Lawlor looked for a takedown again in the final round against the cage, but couldn't get anything and the referee separated them. Carmont looked to strike but Lawlor was pretty relentless with his grappling. Lawlor almost got him down but Carmont ran away. Lawlor landed a couple of nice rights, while Carmont wasn't showing enough urgency in a fight he was down in. Carmont got a brief takedown late, but it probably didn't make much of a difference.

Carmont moves to 4-0 in the UFC with the victory, while Lawlor falls to 4-4 in the organization.