LAS VEGAS — Joe Lauzon entered UFC 200 with some consistency problems. Then he consistently pummeled Diego Sanchez.
Lauzon, an East Bridgewater, Mass., resident, floored his fellow lightweight at just 1:26 of the first round Saturday night, giving him a much-needed TKO win. As OddsShark.com’s Joe Osborne noted before the early prelim fight at T-Mobile Arena, Lauzon opened his UFC career with three wins, then hasn’t won more than two in a row since.
But Lauzon (13-8 UFC, 26-11 overall), who entered UFC 200 with an incredible 13 fight night bonuses, knows how to close. He now has finished his opponent in 25 of his 26 career wins.
Then there’s this.
“It was a short fight, but things went our way,” Lauzon said after he dropped Sanchez’s UFC record to 15-9 (26-9 overall). “I think in the past I’ve tried to do too long of a camp, so we shortened it quite a bit and sparred a lot less.
“Plan A was that he comes barreling at us, throwing punches and to hit him with a right hand, but he came out and was kind of tentative. I was a little more cautious, I thought he was trying to draw me in a little bit since he was a little complacent.”
Needless to say, Lauzon did New England proud on the UFC’s biggest stage.
Thumbnail photo via Joshua Dahl/USA TODAY Sports Images
