I don't actually know how much stock I put in the Lawson win. I mean, for sure, I get it -- it sounds great as a narrative. "He outwrestled Bo Nickal's Heavyweight teammate, another legendary Penn State D1 All-American and the much bigger man to boot!" But, like... I am not sold on Lawson as an MMA wrestler, much less a well-rounded fighter. Take a look at his record and the way he fights. Lawson is a can-crusher who walks down low-level guys and clubs them with wild haymakers early in fights. He doesn't even look all that interested in wrestling in his bouts from what I can tell. I don't know if the skillset he had on the mats has translated to the cage. He beat 5-4 Marino Eatman with GnP, but that was because he made Eatman uncomfortable with his early striking pressure to the point that Marino shot a bum-ass takedown on him, got reversed and tossed to the mat, and subsequently finished. That's literally the only grappling I've ever seen from him. Meanwhile, Williams had like twice as much MMA experience, if not more, as Lawson going into their bout. He had also fought some slightly stiffer competition. So while I am impressed by Karl's ability to ragdoll a bigger, stronger man with the ease he did -- especially the one who possesses Lawson's prodigious wrestling credentials -- I must also acknowledge that Jimmy has not exactly shown himself to be a mat wizard in an MMA context.
As for Chase, that TDD rating must be kept in context. He had a long tenure with the UFC (well, technically two tenures) for someone with such a limited skillset and along the way that stat got padded by wrestling phenoms such as Walt Harris, Damian Grabowski, Justin Willis, and the illustrious Parker Porter shooting TDs on him -- oftentimes multiple TDs. Of those, it's actually worth noting that Justin Willis (lmfao) and Porter both actually succeeded in getting him down at some point and both men also beat him down the stretch. Looking past that, whenever someone with a modicum of offensive grappling talent came in with a dedicated intention of grounding Sherman and finishing him on the mat... they did so. Collier -- who was literally a fat, bloated Middleweight who decided that cutting weight is for suckers -- took him down and choked him out in the first round. Romanov tossed him around like a small child before snatching up a keylock in the first. Sakai got tired of going tit-for-tat with him on the feet for 2.5 rounds, so he just dominated him in the clinch before tripping him to the mat and finishing him with GnP in Rd 3. Williams is the first guy who is ostensibly a dominant primary grappler... yet struggled so badly to outgrapple Chase. It's just not a good look is all. I'm willing to let it slide as an off-night or perhaps Chase turning a corner and figuring some things out too late in his game the same way Jamie Pickett sorta did with his own defensive grappling, but all things considered it's definitely a big red flag in my eyes.
I'll be rooting for Williams. I like this recent batch of dudes who are over-performing against low-level Heavyweights solely by understanding what a jab is and being able to wrestle at a high school JV level, lmao. That and he's also my hometown guy alongside Durden. Tafa is fun and will put on fun fights so I hope he sticks around for some time yet (maybe to fight Robelis), but that fence-grab against Porter was meh. HW rarely lacks for KO artists, but well-rounded dudes in a weak division are the guys I always like seeing do well... even if they do occasionally put on a snoozer.