UFC on ESPN 9 free fight: Tyron Woodley knocks out Robbie Lawler, becomes UFC champion (video)

Before Tyron Woodley starts his road back to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight belt by attempting to take out Gilbert Burns this Sat. (May 30) inside the APEX facility in Las Vegas, Nevada, let’s take a look a trip down memory lane to see where “The Chosen One’s” rise to glory began.

Back in 2016, Woodley headed into his first-ever UFC title fight against hard-hitting combatant and fellow American Top Team (ATT) comrade, Robbie Lawler, who at the time was coming off consecutive title defenses against Carlos Condit and Rory MacDonald.

Naturally, the two heavy-handed strikers weren’t in a hurry to lunge in and start swinging haymakers, preferring to take a more calculated approach in hopes of capitalizing on a mistake from the man standing in front.

Seeing a window of opportunity a little over two minutes in, Woodley charged in like a bull on the loose and landed a clean right hand that dropped “Ruthless.” From there, “The Chosen One” started landing bombs on his downed foe until the referee came in to put an end to the punishment, giving Woodley his first taste of UFC gold.

Tyron went on to defend his title three times before he was eventually dethroned by Kamaru Usman at UFC 235. His fight against Burns will be his first fight since, which was well over a year ago.

Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC on ESPN 9 fight card this weekend, starting with the ESPN/ESPN+ “Prelims” that are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, then remaining main card portion that will air on ESPN/ESPN+ proper at 9 p.m. ET.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC on ESPN 9: “Woodley vs. Burns” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.