Lauzon aims to defeat Etim with wrestling, and more
BloodyElbow : How do you plan to defend against Etim’s Muay Thai? Joe Lauzon: When you talk about a Thai…
BloodyElbow : How do you plan to defend against Etim’s Muay Thai?
Joe Lauzon: When you talk about a Thai clinch, there’s a lot of things you can do. Thai wise, you can strike him back and there’s a lot of things you can do wrestling wise. It’s tough to defend against both, so I think I’m going to use a combination of both. A combination of defending knees, attacking with my own knees, looking for takedowns. Whenever you talk about throwing knees or throwing kicks, you’re always running the risk of a takedown. I think that’s going to be a pretty big weapon for me. It’s going to be the key to the fight, all the way around.
BloodyElbow : How has Abmar Barbosa improved your BJJ? Following up: Do you think he will kill you if you let Etim up off of the ground?
Joe Lauzon: Abmar is a man. This question is coming because he said ‘I’ll fucking kill you if you let him up off the ground.’ Once you get him down, Abmar is adamant about making him pay. Once you get him down it’s about making him pay a price, not giving him a free pass. If you get him on the ground, you have to finish him. That’s what he believes. So we’re working on just tightening up everything. My control posture for ground and pound, setting up my strikes, and making sure I’m sharp in catching submissions. Abmar is awesome.
Plus, Terry is about 6-1 and Abmar is 6-2. So Abmar is studying his game and doing a lot of the things that Terry likes to do. So I’m preparing for an even better Terry Etim, because I’m sure Abmar has way better Jiu Jitsu. Abmar is a beast on the ground, so I think we’ll do well there.
BloodyElbow : How important is it for you to have somebody mimic your opponent like that? As opposed to a generic training partner just drilling technique.
Joe Lauzon: We do this every single fight, whether it’s my fight or someone else’s. We try to matchup guys bodywise, then we match them up skillwise, then we take it further by having them go for the same things. If I’m fighting a wrestler, we’ll have someone learn to shoot a takedown the same why they do and drill for that. Get the best wrestler we can, around that size, and have them shoot the same takedowns.
I’m not saying my guys who are mimicking will be able to do it at the exact same level as Terry. Obviously that’s not their game; they’re copying Terry’s game. But you know, it still gives you a cool look, and it’s a great indicator for how the fight is going to go.
BloodyElbow :Etim is arguably a more dangerous striker than Stout, at least when it comes to delivering singular damaging blows; how will that play into your game? Are volume striking and combinations more daunting for you than someone who consistently delivers knockout power?
Joe Lauzon: I think both are dangerous at different times. If my defense is good and I’m dealing with the kicks, then volume isn’t as big a deal. And, whenever someone is coming forward, they are opening themselves up for takedowns. The thing about Stout, he’s always coming forward, but he has great takedown defense. Terry has good takedown defense but while he has good volume with his strikes, I don’t think he gets up as well as Stout.They’re both very similar fighters, just a different flavor. I think they’re each a little bit better at different things, and it’s going to make a big difference in the fight.
BloodyElbow :Also, Etim’s only losses have come at the hands of strong grapplers dominating from top position, so will that be the game you try to impose on him?
Joe Lauzon: For me, that’s the recipe for every single fight. I’m always going to take people down and dominate on the ground. Because that’s also his weakness, I think it’s going to help me. The downside to that is he has fought a lot of good grapplers. And I know Terry is real smart, he’s a very smart fighter. I’m sure he’s gone back and really worked to improve. I’m not going to be able to beat him the way other guys have beaten him. He’s worked on things for sure and I’m sure he’s tightened up his game. It’s good I’m from that style, so I can try to take advantage of those holes. But it’s going to be difficult for sure.
BloodyElbow : How important is it to you to fight on the first UFC event in Boston, and how are you planning on dealing with the pressure of being a hometown favorite?
Joe Lauzon: It’s great to be able to fight back here. I’ve had like thirty-something fights and I’d say probably 20 of them have been in Massachusetts. But it’s been four or fiver years now since I’ve been able to fight here. Between fighting in the UFC and doing all these other things. So, I couldn’t wait for them to come to Boston. It’ll be great to fight in front of my hometown. There’s a lot of guys from Massachusetts in the UFC now, but I’m the one who came up the most from the bottom level here.
Marcus Davis had a ton of boxing experience, but only a few MMA fights here. He jumped up pretty quick. Kenny (Florian) had a few fights around here, but I had a lot of fights here. It’s kind of cool. The boxing commission, all the martial arts schools here, they’ve watched me grow up. I started fighting when I was 18. They’ve watched me go from my first amateur fight, which you can find on YouTube, which is terrible. I went from this kid who was pretty good at Jiu Jitsu and sucked at everything else to someone fighting at a pretty high level. So, this is like a graduation of sorts, I guess. I’m coming back and it’s going to be awesome.
BloodyElbow : The UFC has always been a west coast promotion, between California and Las Vegas. Now, they’re looking to make a mark back east. Is there the fanbase for MMA in the northeast that you just haven’t been able to tap into yet?
Joe Lauzon: There’s an unbelievable fanbase here and a ton of good fighters that come out of here. It’s such a small state, but there are a lot of fighters here. There’s a smaller show every weekend, sometimes a couple of shows every weekend. There are so many shows for such a small state. The UFC could have come for a long time and they’ve been wanting to. And they’re doing the Fan Expo here. They wouldn’t be doing the Fan Expo if they didn’t think they’d have a crazy amount of support.
BloodyElbow : I went to the last Fan Expo and thought it was a great event. I was amazed at how great the fighters were with the fans. Why do you think there is such a tight connection with the fans, the kind you don’t see with athletes from other sports?
Joe Lauzon: I think the fighters appreciate the fans, but you’re only as good as your last fight. You can win four or five in a row, but when you lose one all of the sudden it’s ‘Oh, so and so sucks. He’s overrated.’ But when people still want to come and see you despite a loss, that’s when you appreciate the fans. MMA fans can be very very fickle. And when you lose they have a lot to say. Kind of like Monday morning quarterbacking. And it’s tough sometimes. You’re beating yourself up already, thinking about how you could have done better and you’ve got all these people telling you “You suck’ on top of it. When you have fans that still want to see you, you really appreciate that.
It’s not like a football player where they are fans of the team so they kind of have to be your fan. They are individually choosing to be your fan. And that’s kind of awesome.
