Joe Lauzon, Donald Cerrone lock horns in UFC 274

MANILA, Philippines – Joe Lauzon taking on Donald Cerrone in UFC 274 on Sunday, May 8, is a brilliant piece of match-making. If the main event featuring Charles Oliviera versus Justin Gaethje is tantalizing, then know that the Lauzon-Cerrone lightweight match could upstage them.

Between Lauzon (28-15; 15-12 in the UFC) and Cerrone (36-16-2; 22-13-1 in the UFC) are 13 Fight of the Night awards, eight Performance of the Night plums, seven Submission of the Night citations and three Knockout of the Night prizes.

Lauzon has 15 post-fight bonus awards — tied for second most in the UFC with Nate Diaz.

“Everything about the fight (with Cerrone) makes sense,” said Lauzon. “There is no age group for what we are doing and what happens is when an older guys wins, he goes up in the standings, or when you lose, you slip down. And you end up fighting some 22-year old monster and it’s hard to overcome that. In this fight with Cowboy (Cerrone’s nickname), you have two fighters almost in the same age (the former just turned 39 years old while Lauzon is turning 38 on May 22), skills, and who have seen so much mileage in terms of fights, training camps, sparring sessions, injuries, and others.”

“He has advantage on his feet and me on the ground. I start fast and he starts slower. There are a lot of dynamics involved that will make it very interesting.”

Regarding the post-fight awards, Lauzon said he is happy to have them, but he is more concerned about the Dub.

“I don’t set out to have Fights of the Night,” bared the Boston native. “My idea is to throw two punches and it ends there. There are moments in the fight where you both turn it on. If it happens, it happens. I never think about leaving my blood in the cage. It’s all about the win.”

Weighing in on the fight, UFC President Dana White said that the loser of this match should retire.

 
“Actually, you could make the case for the opposite as the winner rides off into the sunset,” Lauzon theorized. “This could also be the perfect way to step out however it ends.”

“My last fight was perfect. I fought at home in Boston. It was a dominant victory. I didn’t get touched. Wasn’t hurt. Flawless victory. Couldn’t have dreamed it up better myself. If at that point, if I wanted to fight again — and I wanted to fight again — I had to like the opponent, the date, and the location. I needed to have those three things. When COVID-19 flared up, it added a fourth condition — the Covid situation has to be under better control. I cannot do a training camp with people getting sick. I have been ready to go and fight for over a year now.

 For UFC 274, all those conditions were met.
 
“It’s also good because my problem was eating too many Oreos with my kids at home,” joked Lauzon.

“I appreciate spending more time with my kids. My kids are eight and four. I got to spend more time with them. If I was fighting during this time, those are two years I cannot get back. I got a valuable two years with them.”

Right now, whatever the outcome of this bout with Cerrone, Lauzon will just take it one match at a time. 

“The last couple of years have been rough on us,” said Lauzon. “I’ve not fought as much (his last fight was late 2019). Cowboy has fought more and he was fighting killers. At some point, it is going to be over. You have to pack it up and go on with your life. I don’t think Cowboy and I will fight for the title any time soon. But there are a couple of fights that I think that I could have that would be entertaining.”

“Right now, it’s about fighting Cowboy and we’re sure that we will come out swinging.”

UFC 274 will be shown at 9 a.m. Sunday (Manila time) on the Premier Sports Channel on Skycable and Cignal as well as the TapGo streaming application.