UFC veteran Dana White wants to retire details frustration over failing "to get out of the contract"
A UFC veteran recently expressed dissatisfaction with the promotion over ambiguous signals about his MMA future. The individual stated that he would only return to competition if the opponent is someone he finds interesting.
The fighter in question is Joe Lauzon, who hasn't competed in the octagon since 2019. Lauzon has the longest tenure on the promotion's current roster. He made his octagon debut at UFC 63 in 2006.
Lauzon faced difficulties securing fights after a three-year hiatus from competition. He was slated to face Donald Cerrone in 2022, but the fight was canceled twice due to Cerrone's illness and the former's knee injury.
In a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Lauzon opened up about his future in the UFC. 'J-Lau' stated that he would wait for the chance to fight in the promotion once more and that he is not interested in competing in any other promotions.
''Everyone’s always asking, like, ‘Oh, are you going to fight again? Are you not going to fight again?’ and my answer is always kind of ambiguous—I don’t really know. I wanted to fight Chase Hooper last summer...but that didn't work out...So, I don't know. If they came to me with a fight and a matchup that I liked...I'm still training all the time, but I'm not pressing the issue.''
Lauzon continued:
''I don’t exactly know a valid way to get out of the contract—not that I’m trying to—but I think that there’s a bunch of reasons it can kind of freeze or get prolonged, right?... So, from my perspective, I’m not really trying to fight anywhere else, so I don’t really care.'' [H/t: BJ Penn]
In his last octagon outing at UFC on ESPN 6 in 2019, Lauzon defeated Jonathan Pearce via first-round knockout.
When Dana White asked Joe Lauzon to retire
Joe Lauzon had previously requested a fight at UFC 292, given the pay-per-view event was hosted in his home state of Massachusetts. However, the 40-year-old was refused a spot since the fight card was full at the time.
During the UFC 292 post-fight press conference, UFC CEO Dana White claimed that he believes Lauzon should hang up his gloves, saying:
''It wasn’t that his services weren’t needed. The card was full at the time that he was asking. ... I would like Joe to retire, too...Joe Lauzon at one point held the most ‘Fight of the Night’ bonuses. He’s been a part of The Ultimate Fighter. He’s done so much in the sport. You get to an age where it’s like, c’mon guys'' [H/t: MMA Fighting]