Tyron Woodley ruled out of Robbie Lawler bout

Tyron Woodley has a prolonged journey back to regaining the UFC Welterweight championship that was his until late.

Tyron Woodley has had to withdraw from his anticipated upcoming rematch with Robbie Lawler, June 29, due to a hand injury. The severity and the details about the hand injury are not yet known by media sources, but the bout has been cancelled as a result.

Woodley (19-4-1) knocked Robbie Lawler (28-13) out atUFC 201, July 2016, to become the UFC Welterweight champion. It is only fitting that the pair had a rematch to kick off Tyron's campaign to regain the championship belt, after losing it to Kumaru Usman in March. Robbie Lawler, now No.10, is coming off of the submission loss to Ben Askren at UFC 235. The controversial fight saw Lawler dominating action until a turn for the worst saw Robbie in a ''bulldog choke''.

''Ruthless'' Robbie Lawler is left without an opponent for now, but the options are far from short. To date, there have been pleas from fighters such as Darren Till, Santiago Ponzinibbio, Mike Perry and Leon Edwards. It is hard to say who is in the front running for a shot at Lawler. However, this is a testament to the respect the division has for Ruthless. Despite being 10th in the division and returning from a loss, he still sees himself amongst the sharks in the division.