Joe Lauzon wants spot at UFC on FOX Sports 1 1 in Boston, tired of callouts

With his scar tissue healing but much of the mid-summer schedule already filling, veteran UFC lightweight Joe Lauzon is hoping for a return at UFC on FOX Sports 1 1 later this year.

The event takes place Aug. 17 at TD Bank Garden in Boston, near Lauzon’s current home in Bridgewater, Mass. The main card airs on the soon-to-debut FOX Sports 1 channel (hence the awkward UFC event numbering format).

As MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) recently reported, Lauzon suffered a substantial forehead cut and subsequently heavy scar tissue in a December loss to Jim Miller, which earned “Fight of the Year” consideration. He’s been waiting for a “big raised ridge” of scar tissue to subside, with help from something called the Graston Technique.

With the healing process chugging along, Lauzon now wants a spot on UFC’s August card in Boston.

“I was hoping to fight in June or July, but they’re probably already booking out that far,” he recently told MMAjunkie.com Radio. “The time works out perfect. They just announced the August card, the Boston card in August, so I think everything makes sense. I think it lines up perfectly. It gives me a little more time to let my head heal up and deal with all that kind of stuff and get in there.”

The UFC’s record-holder for fight-night bonuses picked up his fifth “Fight of the Night” award against Miller. He also owns six “Submission of the Night” bonuses and a “KO of the Night” award.

However, Lauzon, who’s currently ranked No. 11 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie.com MMA lightweight rankings, has no preference for a next opponent. Most of the top 15 lightweights who are under contract to the UFC are already booked for other fights.

“I really don’t care (who I fight),” he said. “Whoever the UFC wants me to fight, I’ll fight. I really feel like on any night I can beat anyone. I just need to game plan, and things need to go right in camp, and things need to go right on the night of the fight. But I feel like I can catch anyone.

“I haven’t even thought about it. I keep my eye on everyone in my division. When there’s a lightweight fight, I’m always watching. I try to take mental notes on what they’re doing and whatnot, but once they give me an opponent, I really go back and look. But I don’t care. Doesn’t matter.”

But don’t expect him to get goaded into a bout. He said, likely because of his penchant for winning bonus awards, his Twitter timeline is often full of callouts from fellow fighters. Diego Sanchez and Pat Healy have been some of the most recent ones, he said.

Lauzon, though, chooses to ignore them.

“I really don’t like acknowledging people because I have people calling me out all the time,” he said. “I think it’s because they see me get … ‘Fight of the Night’ bonuses, so people are looking at it like a surefire bonus for them, win or lose.”

For the latest on UFC on FOX Sports 1 1, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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