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Champ Tyron Woodley responds to Rafael dos Anjos’ interim title plea for Robbie Lawler fight
Tyron Woodley is one of many who doesn’t believe the newly announced UFC on FOX 26 main event between Rafael dos Anjos and Robbie Lawler should have an interim welterweight championship up for grabs.
The UFC today announced dos Anjos (27-9 MMA, 16-7 UFC) and Lawler (28-11 MMA, 13-5 UFC) would meet in the headliner of UFC on FOX 26, which takes place Dec. 16 at MTS Center in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and airs on FOX following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass. Given the divisional landscape, the matchup is likely a title-eliminator, but dos Anjos took things a step further by asking his social media followers if they agree an interim title should be on the line (via Twitter):
Given the replied to dos Anjos’ tweet, the nearly unanimous sentiment seems to be that an interim title is entirely unnecessary. Current champ Woodley (18-3-1 MMA, 8-2-1 UFC) just defended his title against Demian Maia at UFC 214 in July, and although he’s expected to be on the sidelines nursing a shoulder injury until 2018, an interim title seems unjust given Woodley’s level of activity over the past year.
That didn’t stop dos Anjos from further pushing the narrative with a lengthier explanation of why he thinks the fight should have the added stakes of an interim 170-pound belt (via Instagram):
Two former Champions ranked #1 and #5 fighting while the current Champ needs months to recover from an injury…if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it MUST be a duck!!! This is an Interim Title Fight no matter what the headlines say!!! Let’s do this @ruthless_rl
Woodley took exception to dos Anjos’ comments. The No. 1-ranked fighter in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA welterweight rankings reminded his potential future challenger that he’s defended his title three times since claiming the belt with a first-round knockout of Lawler at UFC 201 in July 2016 but welcomed dos Anjos to come after him should the Brazilian emerge victorious at UFC on FOX 26 (via Twitter):
For more on UFC on FOX 26, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.
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