Joe Lauzon celebrates after defeating Jamie Varner in their lightweight bout during the UFC on FOX at Staples Center on August 4, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. Lauzon won by way of submission by triangle choke. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
When he’s not dealing with screaming gamers playing “Call of Duty: Black Ops 2” on his Xbox, UFC 155’s Joe Lauzon is working to top Anderson Silva.
The lightweight is contending with the middleweight champ for the record of most UFC Fight Night Awards in company history.
“Anderson’s the only other one,” Lauzon recently told GRACIEMAG.com when discussing who he needs to pass in order to have the most bonuses. “But I have an opportunity to catch up to him and get it done. I definitely want to get ahead of him.”
The Boston fighter is the owner of 11 bonuses during his time in the UFC, and sits just one behind Silva. Lauzon’s two most recent bonuses came on the same night, when he topped Jamie Varner at UFC on FOX 4 last August. The fight entertained to the point of earning him and Varner the Fight of the Night bonus, as well as an additional one for himself with the Submission of the Night.
Lauzon said that the bonuses aren’t things he strives for, necessarily, but they’re a product of his consistent effort to make exciting fights. Never letting up in his attack, staying active and constantly looking for the right opportunities keeps the extra cash coming on fight nights.
“I go out there and just try to get it done every time,” he said. “I think just trying to have good, exciting fights and pushing the pace and being aggressive lends itself to winning all those bonuses.”
Lauzon is confident, he said, that he’ll submit all of his opponents and his UFC 155 foe, Jim Miller, is no different. Miller is widely considered one of the top 155-pound fighters in the UFC, if not the world, but Lauzon’s mind frame hasn’t shifted. Anyone can get caught in anything, Lauzon said when talking about Jiu-Jitsu in MMA, adding that it’s one of the things that makes the gentle art so great.
“You make one mistake … you’ll be getting choked,” he said.
Miller has shared Lauzon’s confidence in the weeks leading up to Saturday’s fight. Reports have stated that the New Jersey fighter isn’t happy without having dominant wins, and he anticipates keeping this trend in this next fight.
Lauzon isn’t fazed by that kind of talk. In fact, he expects it. He realizes Miller is the kind of fighter that expects to finish fights every time, just like Lauzon does. Dominant wins happen every time you finish someone, he said, and that’s what both fighters are expecting to do on Dec. 29 in Las Vegas.
“He’s not looking for a decision, just like I’m not looking for a decision,” Lauzon explained. “I think any time you submit someone or you TKO them, that’s a dominant win. I think he’s saying the same thing. I think we both … want to go out there and finish our opponent.”
According to Lauzon, there’s “a ton of respect” between Miller and himself. He said that neither of them are expecting an easy fight, which tends to lean towards the idea that another Fight of the Night bonus will be handed to Lauzon. Can he score like he did with Varner and take home two awards? We’ll see, he said, but if that’s the case, he’ll be able to go back to playing Black Ops 2, knowing he topped Anderson Silva to take his place at the top of the record books.
“I can pass him if I double up,” he said. “If I can, my bank account will be happy and I’ll firmly be atop that list.”
For more UFC and MMA coverage,
visit GRACIEMAG.com’s Choke MMA section
