Tyron Woodley: “I was in the back and I was relaxed. I’ve been extremely relaxed. I was nervous that I wasn’t nervous. I knew what Robbie brought to the table. He’s a tough competitor,” Woodley said following the win.
“This is not the first fight I would pick. He’s a friend of mine, I admire his career, hat’s off to Robbie. But I’ve been envisioning this belt being around my waist my entire life. Ever since I stepped into the Octagon, I had this mission at stake so it feels amazing.”
“We just knew that Robbie would be well prepared for a takedown, that he would hit me with knees and uppercuts to defend it, we went with the blitz. Something told me he would be open for the right hand and I went for it. Growing up in Ferguson (Missouri), a lot of people said I wasn’t going to be anything, I’ve proven them wrong.”
When asked about his next fights and where he wanted to go from here, he replied:
“Nick Diaz is a top-five welterweight of all time in my eyes. Georges St-Pierre is the No. 1 welterweight in my eyes. If I’m an athlete in this sport, in this division and I want to say I’m the best in the world, I feel like I should compete against those guys.”
Main card
Tyron Woodley def. Robbie Lawler via first-round KO (2:12)
Karolina Kowalkiewicz def. Rose Namajunas via split decision
Jake Ellenberger def. Matt Brown via first-round TKO (1:46)
Erik Perez def. Francisco Rivera via unanimous decision
Ryan Benoit def. Fredy Serrano via split decision
Undercard
Nikita Krylov def. Ed Herman via second-round KO (0:40)
Jorge Masvidal def.Ross Pearson via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Anthony Hamilton def. Damian Grabowski via first-round KO (0:14)
Wilson Reis def. Hector Sandoval via first-round submission (rear-naked choke) (1:49)
Michael Graves vs. Bojan Velickovic declared a majority draw (30-27, 28-28, 28-28)
Damien Brown def. Cesar Arzamendia via first-round TKO (2:27)