UFC 201: Why Lawler vs Woodley is a mirror image of Dillashaw vs Cruz.

UFC 200 turned out to be the opposite of what was promised. "The biggest event in company history." Well, yes. To an extent that is true, records were broken. Highest gate, and largest fight purse (awarded to Brock Lesnar.) But to say it fulfilled expectations would be laughable.

Out of the 12 promising bouts on the climatic card, not one left fans on the edge of their seat brimming with gratification. Oh, and I haven’t even got to the post fight stuff yet, but by now we all know about that, so I will spare you the time of day.

Now if we're discussing fights, or fighters that leave you clinching tightly to your chair with a face like Joe Rogan after Holm head kicked Rousey's lights out...we are talking about the infamous ruthless one... Robbie Lawler.

Lawler celebrates a victory in a bloody brawl

vs Rory McDonald last July.

Since becoming champion two December's ago, Lawler has deservedly become a fan favourite. Although his last four fights (bar UFC 189) have gone to decision, he has earned one fight of the year and two fight of the night bonuses. The so called 'king of round five' according to Robin Black, the welterweight champ is known for his tenacious 'I'm going to take your head off' approach in the fifth round. All guns blazing is not something you'd be surprised to see from Lawler, and so far his opponents have had no answer to his heavy haymakers of 'holy hell.'

The next 'friendly' foe who boldly steps up to face the 'soul taker', is none other than "The Chosen One" Tyron Woodley. Training at the same camp as Lawler, the pair have made it both clear that if it was no strap there would be no scrap, however as the strap is now on the line, the friendship is set aside.

While Woodley last stepped foot in the octagon 18 months ago, Lawler has defended his 170-pound gold twice. Why you ask? Well, unlike most situations, it wasn't an injury or a suspension that kept Woodley watching curiously from cage side. Originally, Woodley was set to fight Johny Hendricks back at UFC 192 last November, however Hendricks missed weight by twenty, yes that's right, twenty pounds and Woodley was promised a title fight would be next ever since.

Woodley's last fight came at UFC 183 last January.

A lot can happen in a year and a half off, just ask Dominick Cruz.

This fight is somewhat a reflection of when Cruz beat Dillashaw in January to become the bantamweight champion. Now of course, Lawler or Woodley do not have the pinpoint precise footwork of the likes of Cruz or Dillashaw, but it is not the characteristics of the fighters that are similar, in this case it is the scenario.

Dillashaw had put on two outstanding performances to defend the belt twice, but then lost it to a top competitor in Cruz who made his UFC return after 18 months.

Oh and by the way, Lawler has put on two thrilling title defences, and this weekend is about to face a welterweight great in Tyron Woodley, who (what a surprise) returns after an 18-month layoff. Coincidental? Or may I be a bit off topic? I guess we'll find out Saturday night.

UFC 195 Review: Could Condit become the first new champion of 2016? Or, will Lawler retain welterweight gold.

Lawler vs MacDonald 2 was 2015's Fight of the Year.

"Beautiful Violence" was the word used by John Gooden in the UFC 195 episode of Inside the Octagon to describe the first title fight of 2016 between "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler and Carlos "The Natural Born Killer" Condit. It certainly seems like a suitable description. Two of the most talented strikers in the welterweight division will come toe-to-toe this Saturday, which makes it seem like it's going to be one hell of a fight. Lawler (26-10) last fought against Rory MacDonald at UFC 189 in July, which won this 2015's Fight of the Year award by MMAFighting after a bloody, messy, end-to-end four round fight was eventually finished off early in the fifth by Robbie. Condit on the other hand has had a 7-month break from the octagon, with his last fight being a TKO win over Thiago Alves in May. The fight was stopped by a doctor after some brutal elbows from Condit caused too much damage to Alves' nose for the fight too continue.

This fight has endless potential to be a great one, as Lawler always "brings it" and the crisp technical striking ability of Condit paints a picture in our head that this fight will be a stand-up war. However, we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves. Following Lawler's last fight against MacDonald, he has already said that he is "not hoping" for another fight like that last one anytime soon, and who can blame him. Meanwhile, the last southpaw that Condit faced was a fight where he was heavily criticised by many, and lost a lot of fans. 3 years ago Condit faced Nick Diaz for the interim welterweight championship, in which he won by a controversial unanimous decision. Many people thought Condit threw "petty" kicks, and ran from Diaz the whole fight, avoiding any real exchanges and not fighting the way he usually fought. Condit went on to fight GSP for the legitimate welterweight belt, but fell short via a unanimous decision. So in regards to Saturday's title fight, I can see it going one of two ways. A stand up war, although a bit less violent compared to Lawler vs. MacDonald 2, in which I think Lawler will be the victor. Or, Condit fighting the same way he did vs Diaz, and edging a unanimous decision victory. I just hope it's the first option which comes true!

Duffy has looked great in his first two UFC fights.

Now, I usually would focus on the co-main event for the second part of my reviews, or if not, a fight a bit lower down on the main-card that has huge potential. However, that is not going to be the case for this review. A fight which was scheduled to headline UFC Dublin back in October at the 3Arena, is now being placed on the early prelims of UFC 195. Poirier vs. Duffy. Personally, I found this decision quite shocking. 

When you look at the main card of Saturday night's show, apart from the co-main and the main event, nothing really throws you off the edge of your seat. I was extremely surprised that this fight was not placed on the main card. but oh well, at least it is going to happen this time regardless of what time! Duffy has only two fights in the UFC, both against guys who are not even ranked in the top 15 at lightweight. However, he looked extremely impressive in both of those fights, showing off his versatile skillset by finishing both opponents in the first round, one by submission, one by TKO. Following Poirier's loss at featherweight to Conor McGregor, he made the decision to move up to 155 and has never looked back since. 

Like Duffy, Poirier's last two fights have both been round one finishes in impressive fashion. Many fans are curious to who has the advantage on the ground in this bout. With Poirier being a brown belt in BJJ, and Duffy being a black belt in traditional Japanese Jiu-jitsu, it will be interesting to see who attemmpts to take this fight to the ground first. We both know that Poirier and Duffy's stand-up are both very strong, so they may just "bang it out" on the feet. Either way, this fight is certainly going to be a good one, and I feel it is more than worthy of a main card place.