Woodley has no problem fighting teammate Lawler for 170-pound belt

With his long-awaited title bout days away, Tyron Woodley has no qualms about fighting a teammate.

Both Woodley and his opponent, Robbie Lawler, are members of Florida-based fight camp American Top Team (ATT). Since fights between teammates are somewhat taboo in the sport, the matchup has raised some eyebrows. But as Woodley told Matt Serra and Jim Norton on Monday's UFC Unfiltered podcast, after initially trying to train separately at ATT headquarters, he took precautions to keep the animosity to a minimum.

"As the fight got closer and closer, maybe it was a little bit more awkward for him than I thought it would be. (...) I own a gym, so I can do part of my camp there, and there've been times when I've just flown guys in from American Top Team. I got Din (Thomas) in my corner, he's been out helping me coach. So just in general, it wasn't a big deal for to have to be out at the headquarters. And it's not a big deal that it's Robbie, like I can honestly say I have no inkling of an emotion about it being him."

Woodley added that he has the luxury of being able to train at other gyms if need be and that teammates competing in the same division tend to get "cliquish" and avoid sparring together when one of them has an upcoming title fight. Woodley's also spent time in Milwaukee training with striking guru Duke Roufus.

When Norton mentioned Lawler didn't quite think of him as a teammate, Woodley said the champ wasn't fond of being "friendly Bob" with opponents before fights, having spent time with him on fight cards and in locker rooms during their days in Strikeforce. "T-Wood" added that he earned his way into ATT, from recruiting talent to sparring constantly early on.

Woodley will fight Lawler for the UFC welterweight title on Saturday in Atlanta.