Despite his best efforts, the UFC seemingly had no interest in booking Joe Lauzon for Saturday night’s highly anticipated return to Boston.
With 27 fights inside the Octagon and more than 17 years with the promotion, ‘J-Lau’ is one of the UFC’s most tenured and respected fighters. Unfortunately, none of that mattered when Lauzon called the UFC in hopes of getting booked on Saturday night’s UFC 292 card.
During a Q&A session on Friday at TD Garden, Lauzon revealed that he had made multiple attempts to get booked on the card for what could have been the last fight of his career, but the UFC was simply not interested in acquiring his services.
“I tried. I tried. It didn’t work out,” Lauzon said. “… I texted many, many times. I was told my services were not needed. … I would’ve fought whoever, but I really wanted to fight Chase Hooper. He had just beat Nick Fiore, who is another local guy. I feel like it’d be a really good matchup for me. It could’ve maybe been the last one, but it just didn’t come together. I tried. I really, really tried, but it didn’t work out” (h/t MMA Junkie).
Joe Lauzon Remains Open to Returning to the Octagon
With his own business flourishing, Joe Lauzon has no need to fight anymore but he would like to take the opportunity to step inside the Octagon when everything seemingly lines up. ‘J-Lau’ thought UFC 292 would be that perfect opportunity, but the promotion seemingly disagreed. Despite the slight, Lauzon is not necessarily finished fighting, but he’s by no means chomping at the bit to get back in there either.
“I don’t need to fight, so whatever makes sense,” Lauzon said. “If the location, the date, the opponent, if it all makes sense, I’m 100 percent down to fight again. But my gym is doing great. I don’t need to fight. It’s one of those things I really like doing. If it makes sense, I’m down (and) I’ll do it again. If we’re done, we’re done. It doesn’t matter. We’ll see.”
With a 28-15 record, the Ultimate Fighter season five alumnus has nothing left to prove, but it’s undeniably nice to see a fighter from a largely bygone era still itching to get in there and compete. It’s just too bad the promotion didn’t feel the same way.