Did Robbie Lawler ask to fight Tyron Woodley?
Did Robbie Lawler ask to fight Tyron Woodley?
Robbie Lawler has a thing for knocking dudes out inside the cage. Now, he's putting questions to rest. While media members and fans alike have openly questi
Robbie Lawler has a thing for knocking dudes out inside the cage. Now, he's putting questions to rest.
While media members and fans alike have openly questioned how Lawler's upcoming UFC welterweight title defense against Tyron Woodley at UFC 201 came to be, until last week the explanation appeared to be simple.
According to Woodley at least, the UFC simply complied to the request of one of their longest reigning champions, giving him the fight that he had asked for rather than the one they asked him to take. Woodley explained this to FloCombat at the Bellator Dynamite II show last month.
"I was told that in January [2016] right after the fight [UFC 195 Lawler vs Condit] that Dana pulled Robbie and Dan [Lambert, American Top Team Owner] to the side and said that he wanted them to fight Carlos in a rematch," Woodley told FloCombat. "Robbie and Dan then said that they believed I should get the title shot and although they knew they didn't pick the fights, they believed I earned it and I deserved it.
"Dana White then said, 'You know what? Maybe you do get to pick the fights so he would make that fight happen.' I was told that news off the record, and we are talking January here."
When Lawler was asked about whether he was involved in such a conversation on a recent UFC media call, the current UFC welterweight champion denied that he ever was and said the decision was fully up to his coaches.
"That wasn't necessarily the case, but this is who I'm fighting," Lawler said. "Really, my coaches, they wanted this fight, so we put it together and UFC put it together, and that's who I'm training to get ready for. It wasn't anything other than that. I'm not intrigued. I'm not excited about this or that."
Instead, the reality is much simpler for Lawler.
"I'm just a mean fighter who's looking to go out there and finish people and do what I do," he continued. "So it's never about anyone else. It's focusing on myself, how I can get better and go out there and get the job done."
While Lawler wasn't quite on the same page on how the fight was put together, he still said he had a lot of respect for Woodley and that he had been training harder than ever to get ready for this fight on Saturday night.
"He brings a lot to the table: speed, his wrestling ability, so I have to listen to my coaches," Lawler said. "They've done a good job of putting me in situations that I need to be in to be prepared for this fight so we've been working and trying to get better every day."
Outside of his fight with Woodley, Lawler has been linked to big-money fights with the likes of George St-Pierre and Conor McGregor. Lawler, though, isn't getting ahead of himself, and for the minute he is staying totally focused on one man.
"As champion, really it comes to one day at a time, one fight at a time," Lawler said. "You just have to focus on the task at hand, how to get better every day so you can go in there and perform at your best.
"Right now it's all Tyron. It's all how I can figure out a way to get the job done so I don't really concentrate too much. I see what's going on obviously outside of what I'm concentrating on, but that's not my focus."
By Jim Edwards
While media members and fans alike have openly questioned how Lawler's upcoming UFC welterweight title defense against Tyron Woodley at UFC 201 came to be, until last week the explanation appeared to be simple.
According to Woodley at least, the UFC simply complied to the request of one of their longest reigning champions, giving him the fight that he had asked for rather than the one they asked him to take. Woodley explained this to FloCombat at the Bellator Dynamite II show last month.
"I was told that in January [2016] right after the fight [UFC 195 Lawler vs Condit] that Dana pulled Robbie and Dan [Lambert, American Top Team Owner] to the side and said that he wanted them to fight Carlos in a rematch," Woodley told FloCombat. "Robbie and Dan then said that they believed I should get the title shot and although they knew they didn't pick the fights, they believed I earned it and I deserved it.
"Dana White then said, 'You know what? Maybe you do get to pick the fights so he would make that fight happen.' I was told that news off the record, and we are talking January here."
When Lawler was asked about whether he was involved in such a conversation on a recent UFC media call, the current UFC welterweight champion denied that he ever was and said the decision was fully up to his coaches.
"That wasn't necessarily the case, but this is who I'm fighting," Lawler said. "Really, my coaches, they wanted this fight, so we put it together and UFC put it together, and that's who I'm training to get ready for. It wasn't anything other than that. I'm not intrigued. I'm not excited about this or that."
Instead, the reality is much simpler for Lawler.
"I'm just a mean fighter who's looking to go out there and finish people and do what I do," he continued. "So it's never about anyone else. It's focusing on myself, how I can get better and go out there and get the job done."
While Lawler wasn't quite on the same page on how the fight was put together, he still said he had a lot of respect for Woodley and that he had been training harder than ever to get ready for this fight on Saturday night.
"He brings a lot to the table: speed, his wrestling ability, so I have to listen to my coaches," Lawler said. "They've done a good job of putting me in situations that I need to be in to be prepared for this fight so we've been working and trying to get better every day."
Outside of his fight with Woodley, Lawler has been linked to big-money fights with the likes of George St-Pierre and Conor McGregor. Lawler, though, isn't getting ahead of himself, and for the minute he is staying totally focused on one man.
"As champion, really it comes to one day at a time, one fight at a time," Lawler said. "You just have to focus on the task at hand, how to get better every day so you can go in there and perform at your best.
"Right now it's all Tyron. It's all how I can figure out a way to get the job done so I don't really concentrate too much. I see what's going on obviously outside of what I'm concentrating on, but that's not my focus."
By Jim Edwards