UFC 194 is set to take place in Calgary which is a long awaited, two years in fact, make up fight for UFC 149. That PPV was injury laden and a bomb in terms of ability to sit an watch it. Now, Dana White has delivered on the make up to Calgary he long promise with brining the Welterweight title fight and a number one contenders match to the great nation of Canada.
Robbie Lawler’s second title defense will come against a former champion in the form of former interim champion Carlos Condit who successfully returned from an ACL injury to take out former number one contender Thiago Alves earlier this year. Still that was his first win in two years even if the loss to Tyron Woodley was due to injury.
Lawler is resurgent in recent years which culminated with taking a split victory over Johny Hendricks for the title. Then he went on to stop former GSP protege Rory MacDonald by TKO in the last round in a fight he was losing on the judge’s scorecard. If he can finish or even beat Condit he will cement his place in the history books even if his streak can never rival GSP’s long running champion streak.
The next title fight contender could be determined on this card as well as former champion Johny Hendricks looks to get back into a title fight as he takes on top contender Tyron Woodley. Hendricks has beaten everyone he has faced except for former champion GSP and current champion Lawler in the last five years. Plus, he has an argument to fill out the trilogy with Lawler with big win in this fight.
Woodley has been angling for a title shot but some slump performances and losses have curtailed his title aspirations. H came out of the shoot huge with big knockouts of Jay Heiron and Josh Koscheck surrounded by a questionable decision loss to Jake Shields. Then he was on the way to a legit win over Carlos Condit but an injury stymied that big victory. Poor performances against Rory macDonald had to be washed away with wins over Dong Hyun Kim and Kelvin Gastelum. Beating a former champion would pave the way for a title shot, but who comes out of this card champion and who gets the next tile shot brings the intrigue.