Joe Lauzon believes upcoming fight against Donald Cerrone is a “very fair one”
Although Joe Lauzon has been away from active competition since 2019 and his next scheduled opponent Donald Cerrone is currently on a losing skid, the veteran lightweight competitor believes he’s booked for a fair fight. The last time Lauzon competed, he picked up a first-round TKO victory over Jonathan Pearce at UFC on ESPN 6.
Earlier this week it was announced that Lauzon would meet Cerrone in a matchup set for a UFC Fight Night scheduled on April 30, although a main event or venue has not yet been determined. Following the announcement of the fight, Joe Lauzon spoke with Sirius XM’s ‘MMA Today’ and discussed the matchup against Cerrone, detailing why he chose to accept the fight.
"It's not that I think Cowboy is an easy fight, but I think it's a very fair one."
After about two years away from competing in the UFC, @JoeLauzon joins to discuss his return against another vet Donald Cerrone. @RyanMcKinnell @AngieOverkill pic.twitter.com/h8dyjqVUF6
— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) February 3, 2022
“Obviously, I’m 37-years old and I think he’s going to be 39-years old by the time of the fight, that’s kind of equal playing field. I’m not trying to fight a kid that’s 22-years old, cause it is harder for sure. I don’t feel old but I have a lot of injuries that have accumulated over the years. I think stylistically he’s a slow starter, I’m a fast starter, he’s got the more polished, prestine standup where as I’m a little bit uglier standup but awkwardly effective. It’s a good fight, I think it’s a good fight and it makes a lot of sense. I think it’s a very winnable fight.”
With both fan-favorite fighters having respectable resumes to their credit, there were previous talks of the two men fighting each other, but Joe Lauzon thinks the fight happening makes sense for all, including the fans.
“There was a lot of talk for a long time about how Cowboy and I were kind of chasing each other in bonuses, going back-and-forth a little bit. I think it’s a fight the fans will really, really like and I think it makes sense for both of us. It’s not just that a fight that ‘Okay it makes sense for me, but not for him’ and it got me excited right away, I was like ‘Aww, that’s a good matchup, that’s a matchup I wouldn’t even think about.”
While some fighters have found success at a later age in their veteran career Lauzon says that’s not his goal at this point of his own career.
“That’s not the goal here. It’s not like I want to fight a Top-10, Top-5 guy. I want to fight someone who is competitive with me. For the most part as a professional fighter you get paid because you make more money when you win. You get bonuses and stuff like that, so I want to fight the worst possible guy I can possibly fight. That’s what it should come down to, either chasing the title or making money.”
Joe Lauzon might be looking to get a win bonus in this next fight but he makes it clear, Donald Cerrone is not an easy fight, but it is a fair one in his mind.
“Not that I think Cowboy is an easy fight, but I think it’s a very fair fight. But if I’m going to go and dedicate three months of my life, I want it to be a fight that gets me excited and I get excited fighting a guy like Cowboy. If it was a guy that I thought was terrible and I thought it was an easy fight, sometimes you don’t train as hard. Cowboy is a guy that I can 100% go out there, he can kick me in the body, kick me in the face, and hurt me really, really bad. I like that. I’m a little bit cautious and scared of that, it’s going to make me train really hard, and I think it’s going to lead to a great fight.”
He may not be looking to face the young upcoming fighters at this stage in his career, but Joe Lauzon is certainly looking forward to exciting fights and believes Donald Cerrone is the perfect opponent for that.
