Mangled thumb, severed lip all part of UFC champion Robbie Lawler’s business

Robbie Lawler briefly shows the injured thumb that caused his welterweight title defense to be postponed from next month to Jan. 2 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

It’s disfigured and painful looking, but Lawler shrugs as he inspects it and says he’s fine.

The 33-year-old Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight champion said while he’s never sought to establish an official medical opinion on the matter, there’s a wealth of evidence to suggest his pain threshold is higher than most.

After scoring a fifth-round knockout of challenger Rory MacDonald on July 11 in the likely UFC fight of the year, Lawler spoke in the octagon afterward with a hunk of his cut lower lip flapping with each word.

“Quit talking,” UFC President Dana White told Lawler during the post-fight interview, sending the fighter to join MacDonald (broken nose) at the local hospital for treatment.

“I thought that was funny,” Lawler said. “I didn’t realize how terrible I looked.”

Yet, Lawler (26-10) is ready to go through all of it again at UFC 195 when he defends his belt against former interim champion Carlos Condit.

Tickets went on sale Friday and remain available for the card that includes a battle between top-five heavyweights Andrei Arlovski and Stipe Miocic, a UFC official said Monday.

“Huge test, [Condit is] one of the best fighters in the world who’s been near the top for a long time, comes from a good camp and is real tactical,” Lawler said. “I have my hands full.”

Lawler and Condit (30-8) met with reporters last week at a Los Angeles restaurant, with the champion responding to a question about the confidence he takes as the survivor of the bloody MacDonald battle.

“I felt good. Obviously, my face didn’t look great but my head felt good, my body felt good, so I felt fine,” Lawler said. “I didn’t prove anything to myself.

“I showcased to the world the type of fighter I was, but I knew what I was capable of. It just happened to come out in that fight.”

Even if Lawler was losing the fight on the judges’ scorecards, he said he believed he was leading because of the damage of his punches in the stand-up brawl — a point proved in the final round.

“I knew the kind of shots I was landing and knew he wasn’t [feeling good],” Lawler said. “I felt I was landing the harder shots. … The plan is always to stop the guy. I felt good going into the fifth. I just kept doing what I normally do, to try to knock someone out.”

Lawler said he doesn’t put much thought into his pain tolerance, even if the asset has contributed to his possession of the UFC belt and provided him confidence as future fistfights like Condit’s challenge beckon.

“I’ve been fighting for a long time. Maybe [it’s special],” Lawler said. “I don’t have anything else to judge it on. I only know I feel good when I fight.”

He had to back out of the originally scheduled Nov. 14 fight in Australia because the thumb injury prevented him from gripping anything.

“Old injury, got it 10 years ago from catching a football,” Lawler said. “It got dinged up — it’s ugly, a weird-looking thumb — but I got my grip strength back … so I’m good.

“Whatever happens, I’ll be ready. I was a striker before a wrestler. I’ve always wanted to knock people out.”