Ronnie Lawrence said after his epic UFC brawl with Leomana Martinez that he only recently had diarrhea

• It takes a lot to win a UFC match.
• It takes more to win that fight while battling diarrhea.

Robbie Lawrence won his UFC match Saturday while still having to beat another opponent — diarrhea.

Competing in professional mixed martial arts is never easy, let alone having to do so for the sport's market-leading promotion the UFC on one of its biggest nights of the year — a pay-per-view show UFC 271 broadcast on ESPN.

Lawrence fought Leomana Martinez so well that both combatants livened up the Houston crowd at the Toyota Center .

But little did anyone watching at the gate, or on TV, that Lawrence was fighting not long after suffering the loosest of bowel movements.

Lawrence and Martinez fought for the full three-round, 15-minute duration.

While Martinez enjoyed 67% accuracy from 156 shots attempted compared to Lawrence's 64% accuracy rate from 99 strikes, it was Lawrence who dominated grappling six successful takedowns from seven attempts, and three knockdowns to two.

When asked why his strategy was wrestling-heavy, Lawrence said: "I had diarrhea and I didn't feel so good tonight."

There's really not much you can say to that, but the UFC commentator and former two-weight UFC champion Dan Cormier managed to add that things "could be much worse, trust me."

Elaborating backstage, after the fight, Lawrence said: "I messed up the rehydration process and was having diarrhea — unfortunate circumstances."

Despite illness, when it came to combat and combat alone, things were relatively straightforward for Lawrence, who won rounds one and two at a canter.

His best effort was in the second, as he peppered punches at Martinez's midriff, knocked his guy to the ground, and won the middle stages of the bout thanks to his oppressive wrestling.

Though he appeared to lose the third, he had done more than enough in the prior rounds to take a decision win home, with two scores of 29-27 and a 29-28 from the three Octagonside judges.

Victory advanced Lawrence's pro MMA record to eight wins (four knockouts and four decisions) against a sole loss.

Elsewhere on the card, Kyler Phillips beat Marcelo Rojo with a triangle armbar, Carlos Ulberg out-pointed Fabio Cherant, and Douglas Silva de Andrade choked Sergey Morozov while blood dripped from his face.

Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker's UFC middleweight championship bout topped the UFC 271 card.