It’s official, welterweight champion Robbie Lawler will defend his welterweight title against Tryon Woodley in the main event of UFC 201 in Atlanta, Georgia on July 30th.
Lawler is coming off a close split decision victory against Carlos Condit at UFC 195 in January which marked the second successfully defense of his belt, having also TKO’d Rory MacDonald in the fifth round of their classic ‘Fight Of The Year’ encounter at UFC 189 in July of last year.
In total, Lawler is now on a fight-fight winning streak, and has lost just once in nine fights since making his return to the UFC in early 2013 and also moving back down to 170lbs, which has proven to be the perfect fit for the 34 year-old.
Tryon Woodley is currently the No.3 ranked contender in the division behind the aforementioned Macdonald and Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson who fight each other at UFC Fight Night 89 on June 18th.
Like Lawler, Woodley joined the UFC from Strikeforce in 2013 and has so far compiled a 5-2 record in the Octagon, including his latest back-to-back wins over Dong Hyun Kim and Kelvin Gastelum.
By the time UFC 201 arrives Woodley will have been out of action for 18 months due to other fights falling through, so he doesn’t have a great deal of momentum heading into the biggest fight of his career, but he’ll undoubtedly be extremely greatful for the opportunity nonetheless.
