The welterweight title is officially up for grabs at July’s UFC 201 event.
Reigning champion Robbie Lawler (27-10 MMA, 12-4 UFC) will meet challenger Tyron Woodley (15-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC), officials today announced.
UFC 201 takes place July 30 at Philips Arena in Atlanta. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.
Lawler beat Johny Hendricks by split decision to win the title at UFC 181. He’s since defended the title twice. At UFC 189, the 34-year-old American Top Team fighter defeated Rory MacDonald via fifth-round TKO in a “Fight of the Year” candidate. At UFC 195 in January, he earned a split-decision win over Carlos Condit.
Woodley, meanwhile, has been on the sideline since a split-decision win over Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 183, a fight for which Gastelum badly missed weight. Woodley, a 34-year-old former standout NCAA Division I wrestler, was then supposed to return this past October against Hendricks in a title eliminator, but the former champ’s weight cut was bad enough he needed to be hospitalized, and the fight with Woodley was canceled.
The latest UFC 201 card now includes:
Reigning champion Robbie Lawler (27-10 MMA, 12-4 UFC) will meet challenger Tyron Woodley (15-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC), officials today announced.
UFC 201 takes place July 30 at Philips Arena in Atlanta. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.
Lawler beat Johny Hendricks by split decision to win the title at UFC 181. He’s since defended the title twice. At UFC 189, the 34-year-old American Top Team fighter defeated Rory MacDonald via fifth-round TKO in a “Fight of the Year” candidate. At UFC 195 in January, he earned a split-decision win over Carlos Condit.
Woodley, meanwhile, has been on the sideline since a split-decision win over Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 183, a fight for which Gastelum badly missed weight. Woodley, a 34-year-old former standout NCAA Division I wrestler, was then supposed to return this past October against Hendricks in a title eliminator, but the former champ’s weight cut was bad enough he needed to be hospitalized, and the fight with Woodley was canceled.
The latest UFC 201 card now includes:
- Champ Robbie Lawler vs. Tyron Woodley – for welterweight title
- Siyar Bahadurzada vs. Claudio Silva
- Damien Brown vs. Cesar Arzamendia
