Lawler's no little guy himself. Dude fought physical beasts like Kennedy at middleweight.
Woodley is a big, strong dude but look at how he fights. Hang back, hang back, hang back, surge. It's an effective style for him that has been working in these title fights, but it seems clear that he is basically preoccupied with not blowing his wad so that he has something left to give down the stretch.
If he were fighting three rounders, I almost guarantee you'd see some more risks and some more offense from him in the early going of a fight.
But in a five rounder, where he's worried about gassing, he will take large portions of rounds off and then violently, explosively go on the offense so as to attempt to get his opponent out of there or take back the round.
Dos Anjos, conversely, is a pressure guy and he will forge ahead of Woodley in given rounds based on that. It seems pretty clear to me that there are two things Woodley can do to RDA that are bad news for him. 1- he's got the power to stop him. That's undeniable. 2.- He has the dynamic wrestling to put him on his back.
However, if he doesn't land the knockout blow, even the wrestling doesn't seem encouraging because, again, he has not shown a tendency to use his wrestling in relentless fashion in title fights. Think of the energy expenditure involved and think of the efficiency that Woodley is going for. Of course, if he lands even one takedown a round and Dos Anjos cannot get up, he is in a great spot.
Personally, though, I think that Woodley will not use his wrestling consistently through the fight and that Dos Anjos' pace and volume will chip away and advance him on the scorecards to a point at which Woodley will only be able to win with a stoppage.
