Lauzon: Guillard Not the Same Fighter When You Move Forward
After studying footage of Melvin
Guillard, Joe Lauzon
decided he had to take the fight to him when they met Saturday at
UFC
136.
“He is two entirely different fighters when he’s coming forward versus when someone else is coming forward,” Lauzon explained on the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Rewind” show. “We said basically no matter what, even if I was getting my butt beat, I was going to come forward. I couldn’t ever, ever, ever start stepping backwards and start letting him come forwards. I wasn’t going to be intimidated. I wasn’t going to be bullied. Regardless of what he threw at me, I was throwing back the entire time.”
Lauzon more than threw back. He stunned Guillard with a left hand
and then submitted him with a rear-naked choke in just 47
seconds.
“When I hit him, it stumbled him pretty good,” Lauzon (Pictured) said. “I didn’t think that I hit him that hard. … I didn’t feel it was a knockout shot. I was just [throwing] my jab out there and seeing what happened and then he stumbled and then I was, ‘Oh, did he slip?’ Then I could tell -- I could see it in his face he just wasn’t all there. I just jumped on him.”
“I didn’t feel like he was giving me the credit I deserved at all,” Lauzon said. “Not that I felt disrespected, but I thought that he took the fight way too lightly. He was at the Fan Expo. He was doing signings the day of the fight. He was running around calling himself the champ already. He was already talking about what he was going to do after he knocks me out. For me, I focus on the fight. I never, ever, ever want to talk about what I’m going to do after a fight because you just never know. For him to already be jumping to so many conclusions, I had a really, really good feeling and it got better and better with every day that passed.”
The win improved Lauzon to 8-3 in the UFC. In beating Guillard, he finished an opponent many believed would finish him.
“I think a lot of people thought I was going to be shooting double-leg takedowns from across the ring and having him sprawl on me and hit me with uppercuts and knees and things like that,” Lauzon said. “That was never, ever going to happen. I can guarantee you that was never, ever going to happen in that fight. I would absolutely go in there bombing with my hands before I would shoot a terrible takedown from way outside.”
Not only did Lauzon not resort to desperate takedown attempts, he moved forward according to plan and hurt Guillard on the feet -- something few expected.
“When I do throw my hands, I hit pretty hard,” Lauzon said. “I can definitely punch a little bit. I’m not the best boxer by any means. I don’t have the most power, but I’m pretty accurate, I’m pretty quick and I hit pretty hard. It’s a pretty good mixture, and because I’m always trying to take people down, the takedown’s right there. That helps it out too.”
Listen to the full interview (beginning at 2:50).
“He is two entirely different fighters when he’s coming forward versus when someone else is coming forward,” Lauzon explained on the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Rewind” show. “We said basically no matter what, even if I was getting my butt beat, I was going to come forward. I couldn’t ever, ever, ever start stepping backwards and start letting him come forwards. I wasn’t going to be intimidated. I wasn’t going to be bullied. Regardless of what he threw at me, I was throwing back the entire time.”
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“When I hit him, it stumbled him pretty good,” Lauzon (Pictured) said. “I didn’t think that I hit him that hard. … I didn’t feel it was a knockout shot. I was just [throwing] my jab out there and seeing what happened and then he stumbled and then I was, ‘Oh, did he slip?’ Then I could tell -- I could see it in his face he just wasn’t all there. I just jumped on him.”
Guillard entered the bout on a five-fight winning streak. With
another win, he could have positioned himself for a lightweight
title shot. His recent success might have led him to overlook
Lauzon, though.
“I didn’t feel like he was giving me the credit I deserved at all,” Lauzon said. “Not that I felt disrespected, but I thought that he took the fight way too lightly. He was at the Fan Expo. He was doing signings the day of the fight. He was running around calling himself the champ already. He was already talking about what he was going to do after he knocks me out. For me, I focus on the fight. I never, ever, ever want to talk about what I’m going to do after a fight because you just never know. For him to already be jumping to so many conclusions, I had a really, really good feeling and it got better and better with every day that passed.”
The win improved Lauzon to 8-3 in the UFC. In beating Guillard, he finished an opponent many believed would finish him.
“I think a lot of people thought I was going to be shooting double-leg takedowns from across the ring and having him sprawl on me and hit me with uppercuts and knees and things like that,” Lauzon said. “That was never, ever going to happen. I can guarantee you that was never, ever going to happen in that fight. I would absolutely go in there bombing with my hands before I would shoot a terrible takedown from way outside.”
Not only did Lauzon not resort to desperate takedown attempts, he moved forward according to plan and hurt Guillard on the feet -- something few expected.
“When I do throw my hands, I hit pretty hard,” Lauzon said. “I can definitely punch a little bit. I’m not the best boxer by any means. I don’t have the most power, but I’m pretty accurate, I’m pretty quick and I hit pretty hard. It’s a pretty good mixture, and because I’m always trying to take people down, the takedown’s right there. That helps it out too.”
Listen to the full interview (beginning at 2:50).
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