Tyron Woodley discusses UFC Rotterdam main event, picks underrated matchup of the night

JacksonWink MMA teammates Alistair Overeem and Andrei Arlovski collide in the main event of Sunday’s UFC Fight Night 87 event in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

If somebody can relate to this teammate-versus-teammate dynamic right now, it’s Tyron Woodley, who is being targeted to face his American Top Team (ATT) stablemate Robbie Lawler at UFC 201 July 30.

According to the UFC welterweight and Fox Sports analyst, though, Overeem and Arlovski have a different type of relationship. There’s tension and some anger, and any signs of brotherhood will quickly be discarded on fight night.

“They [Overeem and Arlovski] have completely different differences than we [Lawler and I] do,” Woodley said. “Our differences are that we’re on the same team and we’re friends. Those guys don’t like each other. Those guys have been in training together, and Arlovski claims that Overeem has tried to hurt him in practice, so this is going to be a little bit more of an internal rivalry.

“Me and Robbie, I feel like there’s honor in the fight, and I feel like American Top Team should get a lot of credit for being able to produce so many champions, so many challengers, within one division…But this situation, I think there’s going to be no love lost when they face off.”

If this isn’t enough to get fans excited about the matchup, Woodley points out that both Overeem and Arlovski are finding their respective grooves inside the cage right now. Overeem has won three straight, his latest a knockout of former heavyweight champ Junior dos Santos. Arlovski, meanwhile, is coming off a loss to current title challenger Stipe …

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