Frank LorenzoThe American Airlines Center will be the host of plenty great battles this Saturday as the UFC 171 event lands in Dallas with a great lineup of fighters. There are two fights in particular in the Welterweight that will rock the arena.
Main Event: Robbie Lawler +300 vs Johny Hendricks -400- 5 rounds for the Vancant Welterweight title
Whoever wins this fight will be the Welterweight Champion in the UFC. Johny Hendricks is 15-2-0 on his career; his last outing was a split decision loss against Georges St-Pierre at the UFC 167.
Hendricks is a tremendous wrestler, NCAA Champion out of Oklahoma State that will look for this one to go to the ground.
“As soon as the judges announced what they said, I had to put that in the back of my mind,” Hendricks said of the loss against St-Pierre. “Also, as soon as I got the fight with Robbie, everything else just disappeared. I have another great opportunity, and I don’t want to waste it.”
Hendricks knows he needs to avoid giving Lawler easy looks, because one good hit and this thing could be over in a second.
“Georges, he was going to throw a jab, a high kick, a low kick, and try to take you down,” Hendricks added. “That’s his game plan. Robbie, if you make a mistake, we’ve seen it time and time again that he can knock you out, so you really have to make sure that you stay focused. That’s a lot more dangerous fight. There are guys who can knock people out. You’re one punch away from losing, but those are also the more fun fights for me.”
Robbie Lawler is 22-9-0 on his career and 85% of his wins ended via KO/TKO, meaning his landing shots are tremendously effective.
Lawler has won three in a row before this matchup; two of those wins came via knockout.
Free Picks: Hendricks in the 4th round.
Co-Main Event: Tyron Woodley +140 vs Carlos Condit -170- Welterweight 3 rounds
Whoever wins here will challenge the winner and champion of the Hendricks vs. Lawler fight.
“Yes it’s been confirmed that this is a number one contendership bout. The media, they want to put a spin on it. They want to say if Carlos wins, he gets a fight. To me, it’s pretty clear cut from Dana that a number one contendership bout means that the victor of this fight is the number one contender…I think that’s why we’re matched up as the co-main event. You got a showcase of who the next #1 contender is right on the same night that you found out who the next champion is. It’s been 100 percent confirmed to me,” Woodley said.
Carlos Condit is 29-7-0 that bases his game on submissions, but he could have problems against Woodley, who is a former NCAA wrestler that has an advantage in takedowns.
Woodley is 12-2-0 on his career and has 94.12% rate on takedown defense; he’s really complicated to beat once he is on the ground.
Free Picks: Woodley +140.
