UFC president Dana White said last week that the winner of Robbie Lawler vs. Rafael dos Anjos, which headlines the UFC’s return to Winnipeg in December, will get the next shot at the welterweight title.
Lawler, the former champion, is choosing to focus on the task at hand—a dangerous matchup against a former lightweight champion who is 2-0 since moving up a division—rather than spending any energy thinking about White’s comments.
“It doesn’t add any extra motivation because if that was the case then there was a lot of fights that I wasn’t motivated for,” Lawler told Sportsnet MMA contributor James Lynch. “Every fight’s a big fight for me if I’m the first fight on the card, my first fight of my career, it’s always a big, big fight and you’re always giving your best.”
Lawler (28–11, 1 NC) took a year off after losing his belt to current champ Tyron Woodley at UFC 201 in the summer of 2016 and used that time to recoup. He defeated Donald Cerrone in an entertaining unanimous decision in his return to the cage this past July at UFC 214.
He’ll have a height and reach advantage against dos Anjos (27–9) but so did the Brazilian’s first two opponents in the 170-pound division. Dos Anjos beat former Strikeforce champion Tarec Saffiedine by unanimous decision in June and followed that up with a submission victory over Neil Magny at UFC 215 in September that earned him a Performance of the Night bonus.
“I feel that no matter who I’m fighting I should win and that’s the case here,” Lawler added. “I just need to make sure I’m at my best and listen to my coaches and work on my skills and get better.”
UFC Winnipeg takes place Dec. 16 at Bell MTS Place.
Here is a look at the fight card to date:
MAIN CARD
— Robbie Lawler vs. Rafael dos Anjos
— Jose Aldo vs. Ricardo Lamas
— Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Mike Perry
— Glover Teixeira vs. Misha Cirkunov
PRELIMINARY CARD
— Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Jared Cannonier
— Vitor Miranda vs. Julian Marquez
— Chad Laprise vs. Galore Bafondo
— Tim Elliott vs. Justin Scoggins
— Alessio Di Chirico vs. Oluwale Bamgbose
— Jordan Mein vs. Erick Silva
— Nordine Taleb vs. Sultan Aliev
— John Makdessi vs. Abel Trujillo
You can follow James Lynch on Twitter @LynchOnSports and subscribe to his YouTube page.
[relatedlinks]
Robbie Lawler not concerned with Dana White’s UFC title shot comment
Former UFC welterweight champion Robbie Lawler. (John Locher/AP)
UFC president Dana White said last week that the winner of Robbie Lawler vs. Rafael dos Anjos, which headlines the UFC’s return to Winnipeg in December, will get the next shot at the welterweight title.
Lawler, the former champion, is choosing to focus on the task at hand—a dangerous matchup against a former lightweight champion who is 2-0 since moving up a division—rather than spending any energy thinking about White’s comments.
“It doesn’t add any extra motivation because if that was the case then there was a lot of fights that I wasn’t motivated for,” Lawler told Sportsnet MMA contributor James Lynch. “Every fight’s a big fight for me if I’m the first fight on the card, my first fight of my career, it’s always a big, big fight and you’re always giving your best.”
Lawler (28–11, 1 NC) took a year off after losing his belt to current champ Tyron Woodley at UFC 201 in the summer of 2016 and used that time to recoup. He defeated Donald Cerrone in an entertaining unanimous decision in his return to the cage this past July at UFC 214.
He’ll have a height and reach advantage against dos Anjos (27–9) but so did the Brazilian’s first two opponents in the 170-pound division. Dos Anjos beat former Strikeforce champion Tarec Saffiedine by unanimous decision in June and followed that up with a submission victory over Neil Magny at UFC 215 in September that earned him a Performance of the Night bonus.
“I feel that no matter who I’m fighting I should win and that’s the case here,” Lawler added. “I just need to make sure I’m at my best and listen to my coaches and work on my skills and get better.”
UFC Winnipeg takes place Dec. 16 at Bell MTS Place.
Here is a look at the fight card to date:
MAIN CARD
— Robbie Lawler vs. Rafael dos Anjos
— Jose Aldo vs. Ricardo Lamas
— Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Mike Perry
— Glover Teixeira vs. Misha Cirkunov
PRELIMINARY CARD
— Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Jared Cannonier
— Vitor Miranda vs. Julian Marquez
— Chad Laprise vs. Galore Bafondo
— Tim Elliott vs. Justin Scoggins
— Alessio Di Chirico vs. Oluwale Bamgbose
— Jordan Mein vs. Erick Silva
— Nordine Taleb vs. Sultan Aliev
— John Makdessi vs. Abel Trujillo
You can follow James Lynch on Twitter @LynchOnSports and subscribe to his YouTube page.
[relatedlinks]
LATEST UFC NEWS
LATEST UFC NEWS