Tyron Woodley will look to extend his win streak to three fights and claim the UFC welterweight title when he faces reigning champion Robbie Lawler on Saturday at UFC 201 as a +150 betting underdog at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
It has been 18 months since Woodley last stepped into the octagon at UFC 183, where he battled Kelvin Gastelum to a split-decision victory as -225 chalk. That lifted his professional MMA record to 15-3 ahead of Saturday’s matchup at Philips Arena in Atlanta.
The victory over Gastelum came on the heels of Woodley’s impressive first-round TKO win over Dong Hyun Kim at UFC Fight Night 48, where he rewarded bettors as a -235 favorite.
Woodley also posted knockout victories over Carlos Condit and Josh Koscheck at UFC 171 and UFC 167, respectively, but dropped decisions to Rory MacDonald in a UFC 174 clash pegged as a virtual pick’em at the sportsbooks and to Jake Shields at UFC 161.
Lawler is perched as -185 chalk in his third UFC welterweight title defense on the UFC 201 betting lines.
Lawler claimed the UFC welterweight belt with a split-decision victory over Johny Hendricks as a +180 underdog at UFC 181, then claimed 2015 Fight of the Year honors at UFC 189 with a win over MacDonald as a +130 underdog before getting past Condit at UFC 195 as -130 chalk.
The champion rides a five-fight winning streak into Saturday’s main event, going the distance in each of his past four, and has earned Fight of the Night honors in four of his past six bouts.
In other UFC 201 action, a pair of top-ranked UFC women’s strawweight contenders square off Saturday when Karolina Kowalkiewicz takes on Rose Namajunas as a +180 underdog.
Kowalkiewicz improved to 10-0 with a win over Heather Jo Clark as -355 chalk at UFC Fight Night 87, and she has gone the distance in five of her past six contests.
Namajunas is -230 chalk in her bid for a fourth straight victory. Four of Namajunas’ five career wins have come by submission, including a first-round victory over Angela Hill at UFC 192 in which she paid out as heavy -280 chalk.
Thumbnail photo via Joe Camporeale/USA TODAY Sports Images
