Robbie Lawler says it best himself, he’s “a little different”. The UFC welterweight champion has a cold, almost savage demeanour which has become his trademark and has endeared him to fight fans.

In media interviews he looks irked, as if fight promotion is an unnecessary sideshow to what he does best: fighting. He rarely has sound bites or makes headlines because in reality, his selling points are his bloody wars inside the Octagon.

It all creates a quite intimidating persona but it’s not something Tyron Woodley is concerned about as he prepares to take on ‘Ruthless’ for the 170lbs title tomorrow in the main event of UFC 201 in Atlanta’s Philips Arena.

“Robbie will bleed and smile and always keep coming, but you have to be intimidated by him to break from that,” said the 34-year-old Woodley who, like Lawler, hit the 170lbs mark at the weigh-ins Friday.

“That’s actually his main attribute. But he’s not the boogeyman to me. I’m sorry. You put him at the foot of my bed, I’m gonna open my eyes, take one look at him, and fall my a** right back to sleep.”

Lawler, who is making his fourth defence of the title, has been in one five-round battle after another over the last two years – his last in January as he edged a split decision victory over Carlos Condit.

But he’s hoping to get the job done early rather than having to unleash his celebrated ‘Fifth-round Robbie’ moniker.

“It’s not something I worry about, whether my opponents have that heart in them or not,” Lawler said. “All I know is that I have it. If they end up having it too, that’s when you see something special. But I don’t know what the other guy is bringing to the table. I’m doing what I can to get them out of there.”