Joe Lauzon is not one to shy away from a good scrap, but there was something special in his next fight that left him no choice but to accept.
Lauzon (28-15 MMA, 15-12 UFC) was offered to fight fellow veteran Donald Cerrone in a lightweight showdown for a UFC event on April 30. Something lit up in the 37-year-old when offered to fight Cerrone (36-16 MMA, 23-13 UFC), and he had no hesitation in accepting the bout.
“It’s just like, how did it not happen before?,” Lauzon told MMA Junkie Radio. “Honestly, he wasn’t a guy I thought about fighting, but when they offered him, I was like, ‘Ah that’s a name. That’s the right name. That’s the name we need.’
“He’s a little bit older than me, but we’re both the same generation. We’ve been in this a long time. He’s been much more active in the last four, five years that I have, but I think that’s kind of to my advantage I think. It’s a great fight. It’s a good, exciting fight.”
Both Lauzon and Cerrone are as experienced as they come. The two fighters have a combined 64 UFC appearances.
Although both competitors are fan-favorite fighters, who’ve logged many Fight of the Night bonuses throughout their careers, retirement talk has surrounded their recent fights given their age and years in the sport. Lauzon is not ready to say this bout will be his last one, but he knows the end is near.
“I had to ask my coaches when they offered the fight, ‘Do we want to fight ‘Cowboy’?'” Lauzon said. “They all liked the fight, they all think it’s a good matchup. But then, OK, let’s say ‘Cowboy’ is out altogether, should I be fighting at all?
“… My last fight was awesome. If that were my last fight that’d be a great career and could’ve been the end of it and I would’ve been happy going forward. So if you guys think I shouldn’t fight, then we don’t have to do that. But if you think I should roll the dice one more time, then we can do that too. And we decided to take the fight. … We rolled the dice, we’re back on the same boat. I should know better and I should know when it’s the last one, but I don’t think I’m ready to say that.”
