UFC News: Joe Lauzon told Dana White he would retire after his recent win but didn't
Joe Lauzon's recent victory at UFC on ESPN 6 was supposed to be his final fight as a professional mixed martial artist. At least that was what Lauzon had promised Dana White. However, 'J-Lau' didn't make it official and now does seem interested in prolonging his career.
During the post-fight press conference, Dana White revealed that the deal was for Lauzon to hang up his gloves, irrespective of the outcome of the fight.
“Me and Joe Lauzon had a deal that he’d retire tonight, win, lose or draw, and he didn’t do it. What better way to go out than tonight? He beat a real guy tonight; he beat a real tough guy that a lot of people didn’t think he was going to beat, and he made it look easy.”
The recently concluded UFC show at the TD Garden in Boston saw Joe Lauzon break a three-fight losing streak by knocking out Jonathan Pearce in the first round. Lauzon's clinically destructive performance was made even more special by the voracious hometown fans of Boston.
Lauzon admitted that he didn't want to decide on his future in the spur of the moment. The UFC Lightweight veteran added that while he may not fight regularly going forward, he does have the itch of competing and will continue to train no matter what happens. Lauzon even added that he could also be done with sport altogether. Lauzon is as confused as we are!
“We’ll kind of see how things go. I’m always going to be training, whether it is cornering or helping out guys. We have a lot of guys training at my gym now … I’m in the gym all the time with them. We’ll kind of see what happens. I’m not saying this is definitely the last fight, but I’m not going to say I’m definitely gonna do it again. Tonight was a great night, but I think too many guys fall into the trap of, ‘Oh, I’m back. Here we go.’ But I’m not there. Maybe I’ll fight in six months, maybe I’ll fight in a year, maybe I’m done.” H/t Credit: MMAJunkie
Lauzon started his UFC career in 2006 with a famous victory of Jens Pulver. 13 years have passed by and Lauzon has had 27 fights with the UFC.
Despite never winning a title, the 35-year-old will be remembered for his dedication towards the sport and his oft-entertaining fights.