Lawler vs. Woodley Results: Winner and Knockout Reaction from UFC 201

The ruthless reign of Robbie Lawler as the UFC welterweight champion was brought to a halt at UFC 201 with Tyron Woodley winning via first-round technical knockout. 

And all it took was one massive right hand. 

Bleacher Report MMA tweeted the official time of the stoppage:

ESPN Stats and Info noted this wasn't the new champion's first win by first-round finish:

The two got off to a slow start. Woodley and Lawler spent a good bit of the opening minutes gauging distance with a missed punch and a clinch against the cage that was broken up by the referee. 

However, when the two were separated, Woodley struck. Hard. 

The former collegiate wrestler loaded up a right hand that put Lawler on the floor and gave him the belt. 

Woodley's victory as the challenger puts an end to one of the more fascinating title runs in UFC history. Lawler started his second stint in the UFC fresh off a 3-5 run in Strikeforce, but he turned things around to become the champion with wins over the likes of Johny Hendricks, Rory MacDonald and Carlos Condit. 

Now, Woodley is the latest "unlikely" champion. 

T-Wood earned the victory after 18 months away from the Octagon. His last win came over Kelvin Gastelum in January 2015. 

The 34-year-old is now the champion, though. It's a moment he vowed to soak in once it got here, per Jorge A. Mondaca of UFC.com: 

I’m really trying to downplay the moment as much as possible, not look at so much social media, not worry about the odds, not worry about making the event, and really just focus on the skill set it takes to win this fight. Then, after the fight, I’ll want to look back and I’ll try to enjoy the moment and the process, all the things that I had to overcome just to get to this point. I’ll sit back for the first time in my career and try to soak it in.

Woodley might not have much time to sit back and enjoy the moment, though. The position of welterweight champion doesn't leave much wiggle room with title defenses. 

The division is stacked with fighters capable of doing damage. A look at the significant strikes that Lawler absorbed in his time with the belt is indicative of that. 

Now it's Woodley's turn to face the grueling task of holding onto the belt. And it'll likely start with a title defense against the red-hot Stephen Thompson. 

"Wonderboy" has lit the division on fire while Woodley was away. Since T-Wood's last fight, he has beaten Jake Ellenberger, Johny Hendricks and Rory MacDonald in convincing fashion. He's hoping that a fight for the title will be next, per Ryan Gerbosi of Newsday. 

“You never know, but I’m putting my foot down, man; I’m getting this next title shot. There’s already talk about it, and it’s what the fans want to see.”

Regardless, the UFC has a new champion in the welterweight division. It'll be up to him to make sure the welterweight title scene stays just as entertaining and fun as it was with Lawler as champion. 

With Thompson in the horizon, it's a safe bet the division's title landscape will continue to entertain. 

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UFC 201: Live Results, Play-by-Play and Fight Card Highlights

UFC 201 emanates from Atlanta with a welterweight title tilt atop the card.

UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler welcomes his latest challenger, Tyron Woodley, in the main event. The two standouts have trained together, and now they will fight against one another. American Top Team will keep the belt in its camp, but will it go back to HQ in Coconut Creek, Florida, or Woodley's affiliate gym in Missouri?

The co-main event looks to be a strawweight title eliminator as contenders Rose Namajunas and Karolina Kowalkiewicz square off in a three-round affair.

Nine other bouts line the card with action, and Bleacher Report will be here all evening to break down the action for you. The first bout of the evening is at 7 p.m. ET on UFC Fight Pass. Televised prelims begin at 8 p.m ET on Fox Sports 2, and the pay-pay-view main card begins at 10 p.m. ET.

    

UFC 201 Fight Card

• Robbie Lawler vs. Tyron Woodley
• Rose Namajunas vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
• Matt Brown vs. Jake Ellenberger
• Francisco Rivera vs. Erik Perez
• Ryan Benoit vs. Fredy Serrano
• Ed Herman vs. Nikita Krylov
• Ross Pearson vs. Jorge Masvidal
• Anthony Hamilton vs. Damian Grabowski
• Wilson Reis vs. Hector Sandoval
• Michael Graves vs. Bojan Velickovic
• Cesar Arzamendia vs. Damien Brown

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UFC 201 Fight Card: PPV Schedule, Odds and Predictions for Lawler vs. Woodley

Robbie Lawler's third welterweight title defense headlines the card for UFC 201 at Atlanta's Philips Arena on Saturday night. The champion has endured some gruelling recent bouts and faces a skilled challenger who has had to wait for his big chance: Tyron Woodley.

The Lawler and Woodley tussle isn't the only notable bout on the main card, though. Rose Namajunas' meeting with fellow contender Karolina Kowalkiewicz deservedly has co-main event billing.

Here are the schedule details for the pay-per-view event:

Date: Saturday, June 30

Time:  Main Card (10 p.m. ET/3 a.m. BST). Early Prelims (7 p.m. ET/12 a.m. BST). FS2 Prelims (8 p.m. ET/1 a.m. BST). 

Here's the full fight card information, along with odds:

 

Predictions

Choosing a winner between Lawler and Woodley is no easy task, but at least two experts agree about how the headline fight will play out. ESPN's Brett Okamoto is going for a fourth-round TKO for the defending champion, while Jonathan Bradley of Fox Sports also fancies a Lawler knockout in the fourth.

A common theme for each writer is punching power, both in terms of each fighter's chops as strikers, along with their ability to absorb shots.

The latter is a consideration Okamoto is unable to ignore. He's cited telling statistics that suggest Lawler will be under pressure if Woodley can land consistently up top: "According to FightMetric, Lawler has absorbed 642 strikes since the start of 2014. He's gone five hellacious rounds, back-to-back-to-back. When do these wars catch up? Lawler is 34 in human years—and probably something like 112 in fighter years."

In order for Woodley to exploit those concerns, though, he'll need to connect with significant strikes. It's an area in which he's inferior to the champion, however, according to Bradley: "Lawler and Woodley have virtually identical striking statistics, with both fighters landing over three strikes per minute at a 46-percent clip. Where they differ, however, is in significant strikes, as Lawler lands 3.51 significant strikes per minute compared to 2.56 for Woodley."

Assessing Woodley's punching power is a common theme ahead of this fight. UFC Europe also asked whether the 34-year-old challenger can pack enough into his fists to put Lawler down decisively:

Counting on Woodley to land a knockout blow is a risky bet, since he's more at home as a grappler. Unfortunately for the challenger, that's an area where Lawler is rarely troubled.

So count on Lawler making good on these predictions and using his own skill as a striker to wear down and eventually knock Woodley out.

When Namajunas meets Kowalkiewicz, she'll have to be mindful of the latter's ferocity as a hitter. FightMetric detailed how Kowalkiewicz lands 6.17 significant strikes per minute.

Countering those fast and tough hands will demand keeping things on the mat. Fortunately for Namajunas, her 3.49 takedowns average, along with 66 percent takedowns accuracy, per FightMetric, means she's well-equipped to take her opponent out of her comfort zone.

If Namajunas can break down Kowalkiewicz's underrated defense and keep her grounded, she's more likely to lock on the submission hold that can end this intriguing fight.

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Lawler vs. Woodley: Weigh-In Info, Top Comments Before UFC 201

Robbie Lawler and Tyron Woodley hit the scales on Friday ahead of their mouth-watering title bout at UFC 201, and both fighters came in dead on the 170-pound limit, per Fox Sports: UFC:

The main event will see Lawler look to defend his welterweight title for the third consecutive fight, and he comes into Saturday’s clash in excellent shape.

Despite not taking to the Octagon since January, Lawler’s body is ready to be put to the ultimate test—something he should be used to by now.

In his previous two title tilts against Carlos Condit and Rory MacDonald, the American was taken all the way, but his grit and guile enabled him to prevail.

It’s all set to be another thriller at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, as the pair is closely matched on paper, although Lawler is hoping to make light work of his opponent.

Per Peter Carroll of MailOnline, the 34-year-old is looking to get in and out of the Octagon in double-quick time:

The thing is, no one ever wants fight of the night. Every fight I've gone in, I want Knockout of the Night. I want to be in and out quick. Sometimes these guys just have a lot of grit. They're highly trained and I just can't get them out of there so I get Fight of the Night. So it's not necessarily that I'm changing anything, it's like I'm just sick of Fight of the Night. I want to knock people out.

Lawler isn’t the only one who thinks Woodley may not stick around for long on Saturday, as fellow UFC fighter Sean Spencer says Lawler has a professional advantage over the challenger:

Woodley may have something to say about that, though.

The Chosen One has a solid submission game thanks to his wrestling roots, and although he hasn’t taken to the Octagon since January of last year, he’ll look to outwit Lawler tactically.

Woodley claims to be in the best possible shape to do exactly that.

"I'm putting everything together," Woodley explained to Carroll. You guys have seen the submission games, you've seen the wrestling games, you've seen the striking game. Over time I just matured as a fighter and it's my time to seize it. I'm putting everything together and I'm ready to take off."

Although Woodley says he’s improved his all-round game, he’d be smart to keep Lawler on the floor for as long as possible.

The more time the champion spends grappling on the floor, the more desperate and erratic he’ll become. That could lead to Lawler throwing wild punches, which would give Woodley the chance to capitalize.

Even so, Lawler is far more composed nowadays, and he’ll know not to be lured into clumsy attacks.

It’s all set to be an incredibly fiercely contested bout in Georgia, with two fighters at the top of their games going toe-to-toe.

Lawler has the edge in ability, but if Woodley plays a smart game, he could give the champ something to worry about.

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UFC 201 Is Another Night in the Lost Reign of Robbie Lawler

If a Robbie Lawler opponent falls but no one is watching, does he make a sound?

If you’re one of the ones who has been watching the past few years, you’d probably say so. They tend to grunt or groan as they’re wailed on, produce unnatural thuds and smacks from their body cavities as various shots land or maybe offer a weird smush as their nose gives way to be replaced by a gaping crater.

Once more on Saturday night, the UFC will seek to answer the question as it pits it meanest, most savage champion against Tyron Woodley, a challenger most people know as much for briefly being silent muscle in Straight Outta Compton as they do for his road to a title shot.

As a result, UFC 201 enters the promotion’s busy summer schedule with all the pomp and circumstance of a church mouse, even if the champion on its poster is likely going to produce something incredibly GIF-worthy while nobody is watching.

In as much as those remarkable happenings have become a hallmark of Lawler as a resurgent UFC talent and indefatigable champion—his 600-plus-day reign the longest at 170 pounds since the legendary Georges St-Pierre vacated the title after more than 2,000 days in 2013—so too has the decided lack of notice he’s gotten.

Yes, the hardcore fan loves him because they know he’s going to give them their money’s worth or go out on his shield trying, but his continued lack of exposure to broader audiences is doing little to make him a true superstar.

It’s strange in a way, given Lawler is easily the most compelling career story on the roster and the type of intense, muted firebrand who comes off as bizarrely charismatic. He was a prospect while his sport was still prospective, he spent a decade in purgatory fighting people you’ve never heard of in places you didn’t know existed for amounts you wouldn’t believe were available, and he returned to the UFC under cover of darkness on the whim of Dana White.

He’s gone 8-1 since that that return in February 2013, narrowly losing a Fight of the Year title bout to Johny Hendricks in 2014 before avenging the defeat a few fights later and never looking back. He’s defended the welterweight title twice, once against Rory MacDonald in the 2015 Fight of the Year and once against Carlos Condit in a fight that's likely to be named Fight of the Year for 2016.

That Lawler renaissance, born of his role as MMA’s foremost purveyor of poetic viciousness and buoyed by just enough good feeling from those who watched him meet his potential, suggests the man who’s been Ruthless for 15 years deserves better than he’s gotten on the attention front.

Saturday night, he’ll headline an event jammed between UFC 200 and the Conor McGregor-Nate Diaz rematch, a card that practically screams “save your money” to the casual fan. The Condit fight happened when as many people were in airports heading home from breaks as there were in bars or on couches waiting to see him in action. He also fought MacDonald on a McGregor undercard, so you can imagine how much attention he received there.

This is not to suggest the UFC has buried Lawler intentionally. He’s fought on Fox a couple of times and was heavily featured in ads during the most recent show on the network. There’s even an argument to be made that his appearance on that McGregor show last summer—when he acquitted himself more than admirably and perhaps legendarily—did more to help him than to hurt him.

Yet the fact remains there doesn’t seem to be a hype commensurate with what Lawler is guaranteed to provide come fight night, and that’s something of a shame.

Should Lawler best Woodley at UFC 201, he’ll have defended his welterweight title three times. Only Pat Miletich, Matt Hughes and St-Pierre have done it more, and none did it with the ferocity and bombast of the reigning champion.

Lawler is the best thing going in MMA, the man who proves success can be found by being exciting, provided you have the willpower and guts to find it.

If he could only find a little more attention for that fact, things would truly be perfect for him.

     

Follow me on Twitter @matthewjryder!

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