In July of 2008, I was on summer break as a teacher in St. Louis. Sometime in the middle of the month, Martin Floreani called me up to ask if I wanted to work for his startup company, FloCasts (now FloSports), which was in its infancy. I'd met Martin a couple of times, and was definitely familiar with the company because of its revolutionary website, which I had become addicted to: FloWrestling.

The thing was, he didn't want me to work with FloWrestling. Instead, he wanted me to head up a new MMA website, which would function just like FloWrestling and FloTrack, called PureFight.

One week after that phone call, I quit my job as a teacher/coach, and was on my way to pick Martin up from the St. Louis airport to begin a massive road trip and on-the-job training. When we got to my house, he gave me a MacBook and put a video camera in my hand.

In 2008, Tyron Woodley was an undefeated amateur fighter with a handful of fights under his belt. A two-time NCAA All-American wrestler, Woodley was full of potential. He transitioned to MMA shortly after his college wrestling career ended, and was taking his time as an amateur to not push his career along too fast.

But Robbie Lawler was already a seasoned veteran and household name in MMA. Lawler fought his first professional match in 2001, and made his UFC debut in 2002. At one point during his fighting career, Lawler spent the better part of a wrestling season training in Iowa City with the Iowa Hawkeye wrestling team.

When he was an amateur living in St. Louis, Woodley found his way to Matt Hughes' gym, the H.I.T. Squad, situated across the Mississippi River in Granite City, Illinois. There, he trained with Hughes and fellow H.I.T. Squad member and six-year UFC veteran Lawler.

On July, 22, 2008, Lawler was literally the first interview I conducted during my first day on the job; Woodley was the second. Lawler was preparing for a fight at EliteXC: Unfinished Business while Woodley was still cutting his teeth in the sport.

Eight years later, Lawler is now the UFC welterweight champion. And Woodley fought his way out of the amateur ranks and into a UFC title shot against Lawler.

It blows my mind that, almost exactly eight years later, these two will go head-to-head at UFC 201 with the belt on the line.

Who do you have winning the title fight at UFC 201: Lawler or Woodley?

Check out these early interviews from that day in 2008 with Lawler and Woodley:

Lawler interview:


Woodley interview: