ATLANTA (AP) - Tyron Woodley took the welterweight championship from Robbie Lawler on Saturday night, stopping him with 2:12 left in the first round at UFC 201 at Philips Arena.
The former All-American wrestler at Missouri dropped Lawler with a devastating right hand - after an effective fake - and scored several strikes while Lawler was on the mat and against the cage, leading referee Dan Miragliotta to call the bout.
The 34-year-old Woodley - who waited some 18 months for a title shot - improved to 16-3. Lawler, also 34, fell to 27-11. He was making his third title defense.
Woodley had not appeared in the Octagon since January 2015, when he defeated Kelvin Gastelum.
"I was just nervous that I wasn't nervous," he said. "Something told me that you've just got to enjoy this moment. I've been in this sport for 10 years and I'd never enjoyed the moment. I felt confident to enjoy this moment because I knew I'd be the world champion. I saw myself several times knocking him out in several different rounds."
Although Lawler let his guard down at an inopportune time, Woodley said he did not see a particular weakness he could exploit so early in the bout.
"There wasn't a chink in his armor, but I knew he'd be thinking about my wrestling and I knew he'd be thinking about my right hand, so we had several different plays, as we call them, to use that right hand and get to that powerful punch," Woodley said.