If the fight promotion business is all about selling sizzle, then Robbie Lawler is a slab of raw steak.
The UFC welterweight champion can't bring himself to engage in phony hype or trash talk in order to sell an extra ticket or two. But he does deliver, on a consistent basis, some of the most exciting bouts the sport of mixed martial arts has to offer.
His tight decision loss to Johny Hendricks at UFC 171 was considered 2014's Fight of the Year. His fifth-round TKO of Rory MacDonald at UFC 189 was 2015's Fight of the Year. And his five-round brawl with Carlos Condit at UFC 195 on Jan. 2 is the easy frontrunner for this year's honors.
But the 32-year-old Iowa native who now calls Coconut Creek, Fla., home could live with himself if his UFC 201 main event title defense against Tyron Woodley (15-3) of Ferguson, Mo., at Atlanta's Philips Arena isn't another 25-minute donneybrook.
"I'm sick of fights of the year," Lawler (27-10, 1 NC) said. "Winning fires me up. Trying to get over guys and knock them out, that's what fires me up. Decision victories, whoop dee doo, but finishing guys fires me up."
Although he's gone the distance in four out of his past five fights, Lawler is traditionally a finisher, with 20 career knockouts among his 27 wins. He'll face, in Woodley, a fighter with a collegiate wrestling background who is comfortable going the distance if he has to -- half of his past six fights have gone the distance.
So the bout will come down to which fighter can impose their preferred style on the fight.
"Woodley has tremendous athleticism, brings a lot of technique, a well-rounded fighter," Lawler said. "I expect him to wrestle, move around, [know] that wherever the fight goes, he feels safe. But I always feel like I'm able to put the fight where I want it to go. Five rounds is a long time to find your way around it."
Adding a layer of intrigue to this matchup is that both train at the elite American Top Team camp in South Florida. Woodley has been with the gym longer, and traditionally, that would mean he would stay for this training camp, while the newer fighter would leave.
But with Woodley spending the bulk of his time these days at home in Missouri and Lawler living full-time in Florida, and with Lawler's status as ATT's first UFC champion, it was agreed Lawler would stay and Woodley would train at home.
"For me in general I've been blessed to have hospitality from several different camps I've been able to train at and get an approval by the American Top Team guys to go anywhere," said Woodley, who has won four of his past five fights. "So in this situation, Robbie was the first guy that brought home UFC gold from the American Top Team. It just feels like the right thing to do to give him the home court advantage, to train 100 percent there and make things as professional as possible."
In the co-feature bout, Milwaukee's Rose Namajunas (5-2) takes on Poland's Karolina Kowalkiewicz (9-0) in a strawweight matchup. Namajunas has won three consecutive fights and Kowalkiewicz is 2-0 in the UFC.
"I think that there are going to be opportunities for me to finish the fight at many different moments," Namajunas said. "Or it could happen very quickly. At the same time, I'm also looking forward to a long fight. I kind of want to break her down."
The winner is expected to have the inside track on the next shot at 115-pound champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk.
