Johny Hendricks will fight Tyron Woodley at UFC 192 on October. 3 in Houston.
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Lawler (26-10) is coming off a successful title defense against Rory MacDonald this past July as he shattered his Canadian opponent’s nose with a powerful left hand about 60 seconds into the fifth and final round to secure a technical knockout victory.
Both Hendricks and Woodley will no doubt be frustrated that they’ve missed out on the chance to fight the champion, but all signs point to their forthcoming bout being a title eliminator.
The former UFC Welterweight Champion defeated Matt Brown in March in his first fight since losing the title, and was hoping for a rematch with Robbie Lawler.
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The UFC announced on Wednesday that Lawler will headline UFC 193, which will take place at an unconfirmed venue in the Australian city of Melbourne. The UFC have opted to go a different direction, so he’ll need a win over Woodley to keep himself in line. Elsewhere on the card, Rashad Evans returns from injury to tangle with Ryan Bader. Hendricks bested Woodley in the division championship match before moving on to win his first of two National Championships. While beating Thiago Alves in 2015 isn’t necessarily the greatest argument for receiving a title shot, this is brilliant matchmaking from a fan’s perspective, and it is stylistically compelling and perhaps more sell-able to the public than Hendricks/Lawler 3.
