UFC 201: Lawler vs Woodley – Winners and Losers

The story of UFC 201 began as a combination of lowered expectations, not much fan support, fatigue from the previous bunch of events in the month of July alone, and the high expectations and name value of UFC 202.

The problem with that line of thinking, however, is the fact that sometimes we get, well… this. We end up with a strange little diamond in the rough that doesn’t have the biggest names yet still manages to provide a degree of action, showcases talent, and even moments that make changes — however small they may be — to the history of the sport and the direction it heads in.

From the resurrection of the career of a man that was seen as fading and done, to a new de facto title challenger at strawweight to give a dominant champion fits, to the title changing hands in what is arguably the second deepest and most talent-rich division in the sport. All of this, all of the performances we saw had potential and could have gone in various directions. And that makes this a far more solid card than what many were expecting, which is one of the most pleasant kind of surprises.

Winners

Tyron Woodley – Generally, the longer a fighter sits out to get a title shot, the more fans resent that fighter for it. Not only that, but everyone starts to doubt your abilities because the lack of consistent performances to gauge growth as well as to compare and contrast with opponents usually leads to a grim prognosis every time. Not only that, but the risk of it all is something we’ve seen before with the likes of Rashad Evans and how it can all fall apart. With all of this in mind, it’s easy to understand why there was such trepidation from fans and analysts to pick Woodley over a champion that looked as dominant as Lawler had. Woodley fought smart, used his athleticism and absolutely blasted a fighter known for his durability in yet another shocking title upset (something we’ve been spoiled with for over a year now). What the future holds for Woodley isn’t something we can determine right now, but he bet on himself big and rolled the dice only to end up the welterweight king, and there’s certainly no shortage of worthy challengers.

Karolina Kowalkiewicz – After moving around from KSW to Invicta and back before ending up in the UFC, Kowalkiewicz has shown improvements and steady progression. It has come to the point where there should now be no doubt not only as to whether or not she should get a title shot, but whether or not she can hang with champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk. After surviving a rough first round, she made adjustments and kept brutalizing Namajunas’ midsection and legs with knees and kicks to sap her cardio. Not only does she make a statement in the division while remaining undefeated, she now gets to eat those cookies.

Jake Ellenberger – 11 years. It was in 2005 that Jake Ellenberger began his UFC career, and after stints in the IFL, M-1, Bodog, Victory Fighting Championships, and Bellator among others, he made his way to the UFC. He remained consistent with his wins despite some setbacks, and then hit a terrible losing 3-fight losing skid. That was followed by a win over a Josh Koscheck facing the sunset of his UFC career and two more losses. These things need to be mentioned for context, because Ellenberger has what is perhaps one of the very best welterweight records in terms of opponents faced, even in losses. So when faced with the possibility of finally having his long UFC career coming to an end, his star shone the brightest against yet another fighter notorious for being difficult to knock out. It seems like he’s finally put the pieces together with Kings MMA in his second bout with that gym, and he looked sharp with the first double-pump feint to big right hand, all the way to the end. It shouldn’t surprise anyone if he’s knocking on the door of a title shot sometime in the not-so-distant …

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