Joe Lauzon vs. George Sotiropoulos In The Works for UFC 123
Posted by Kris Karkoski on Sep 8, 2010 at 2:03 pm ET25 Comments
After bouncing back with a win over replacement Gabe Ruediger at UFC 118, Joe Lauzon will face a step up in competition when he meets rising lightweight contender George Sotiropoulos at UFC 123 on Nov. 20 in Detroit.
The UFC 123 fight card is headlined by former light heavyweight champs Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Lyoto Machida and also includes Phil Davis vs. Tim Boetsch and Karo Parisyan vs. Dennis Hallman.
Pictured: Joe Lauzon
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Fast turn around for lauzon but he ran through gabe like it was practice so it shouldn’t be a big deal.
I would have preferred sotiropoulos vs gomi or vs tyson griffin. I think george is ready for the top of the division. Not saying that lauzon isn’t but i just think george is a bit higher on the “rankings”.
Either way, this should be an exciting fight, THey match up very well and are both explosive fighters.
I agree, I think that even with a win, George will in the same position that he is in now. I was hoping for a fight with Clay Guida or Kenny Florian. Maybe after this fight (should he win.)
A side note – how come my avatar doesn’t show up when I post/comment on the Forum topics?
because it’s different you have to go to gravatar
Go to the forums in a bit and check out “forum avatars” i’m gonna find it and put it at the top. just follow the directions and you can upload your forum avatar
Thanks Jazz! I got it set up.
Terrible matchmaking on this one. Dana even said after 116 that Sotiropolous was a top contender then he throws this fight to him.
Maybe next year George.
“Terrible matchmaking?!”
Seriously?
Both these guys can seriously go.
IMO this has Fight of The Night candidate written all over it…
I agree, maybe fight of the year, or at least top 5 candidate. I like both these guys, it’s hard for me to pick someone to win. I’ll just sit back and enjoy it.
Wow this should be a barn burner. Lauzon is going to get the upset victory and push into the top teir. Sorry for George indeed ;)
If memory serves someone recently either on the main page or over at the forums called for a Lauzon-GSnoP scrap, so kudos on the call…
Wow! Terrible match making? Are you kidding me? This is a phenomenal fight. Both guys deserve a fight like this. Sotiropoulos has been awesome and Lauzon has definitely proven he can bang with anybody. Ground games are both fantastic, I agree with Jcohl, this definitely has fight of the night or definitely submission of the night written on it.
If G-sot wins he should get a title shot. Either that or a fight with BJ (Pending which wieght class he is in), or a Florian type of fighter. He is a great tallent that I with will be around the top for a long time.
As someone else said, this has FOTN all over it. Lauzon is gonna have his hands full but he will make it a good fight. I think G-sot will be a little to much for him though.
This should be a good fight, but in all fairness I think George has earned himself a fight against a top-5 opponent. Joe looked awesome as he steam-rolled Gabe, but he is only one win removed from a loss to Sam Stout and has lost 2 of his last 5 fights. Sotiropoulos is undefeated in six UFC fights with two statement wins over Stevenson and Pelligrino. Don’t get me wrong, I think this will be a fight of the night candidate, but George’s ascent should have landed him a fight that would put in him line for a title fight.
Not that you’re off-base about Lauzon’s recent fight resume, but there is one other thing to consider.
Lauzon is the better-known fighter, and Dana White seems to like the kid.
Maybe its their common Boston/Massachusetts thing, maybe he just likes the fact that Lauzon brings it whenever he steps in, or that DW simply likes the guy.
At least thats the impression I get.
If Sotiropoulos grabs the win here, especially if its in a jaw-dropping and eye-popping manner, he will indeed find himself “in the mix”, and facing someone like Kenny Florian, or possibly BJ Penn when he decides to step back in…
I can’t wait for this one! as soon as i read it i got excited, i’m a big sotiroupoulosus fan and i’ve predicted him to win in all his fights so far but i’m gonna have to study this one, especially with what happened against pelligrino right at the end when kurt got aggressive and caught george with a knee & lauzon’s super aggressive showing the other night. can’t wait to tell my ufc pals at work about this one!
I think if George wins this fight, he definitely puts himself in the mix and should probably be next in line for bj penn, given that bj will now have to win at least 2 fights to get back at another title shot. Lauzon is Dw’s boy i think, and he’s definitely not a contender yet, but if he destroys george like he destroyed rudy, then he’ll have to be in the mix for a top 5 fight.
Okay its a good match for Lauzon but cmonnn. Sotiropoulos deserves better people. why not give him penn? that could def shoot him up the ladder. i mean isnt he alredi top 10? why does lauzon deserve him. yes he beat rudieger but he wasnt gud inda first place. not the best call but a interesting matchup
I see Lauzon taking this definitely, and I’ll be rooting for him!
I was hoping the would put George against Florian, but the timing would have made George wait a while while Florian healed up. This should be a great fight to watch. I like both these guys so not sure who I want to win, but think George has the advantage.
Another thing that deserves mention is that this fight really rounds out this card. With the headliner as the obvious exception, there are not match-ups with any sort of title contention implications. This fight is at least two exciting bangers who are rising stars yet already established.
This is gonna be a war! Ive always been a fan of Lauzon and George so Im torn as to cheer for. Either way Im betting its a war, but if I had to put money on it I would say Sotiropoulos because of the way he dominated Joe Daddy. But Lauzon looked like the UFC video game on expert against Gabe so its gonna be a good one for sure
I would have like to see Soto vs Gomi or even the winner of Dunham vs Sherk vs him. Joe just doesn’t seem to be the step up I was thinking he was going to get.
I am gonna first off say that i think George will be 155 champ by 2012…With maynard fighting frankie what does the ufc do? they give him a lauzon just for now cause he will probably fight twice before getting the title shot…the ufc isn’t definitely gonna bank on when bj returns too so of course they wouldn’t have him fight George cause i don’t think bj would win…i see bj coming back and fighting Stevenson to be honest..its all about money but watch cause George is gonna be nasty
i dont understand all the ‘dislike’ for joe… the guy is a good fighter, if there were an accurate ranking system id consider these guys to be right beside one another…
this is a sensible match up… who ever wins this fight should essentially be on the road to a title match… i think both joe and george have what it takes to make a run at the title and even win it…
its good to see the match makers mix up the names for once… ive been getting tired of seeing only the big name fighers fight… lol…
and even then how did those big names get big? every fighter in the ufc has fought at least one virtual nobody/hasbeen and built there carerr from it…
im looking foreward to this fight, i hope baby face joe wins it, even though i like them both equally, its joes win over jens that has me rooting for him
I’m not saying it’s gonna be a completely one sided fight, I’m just
saying IMO George is the #5 155′r in the UFC right now. I would put Joe
around 11 or 12 in the division. That’s not really fair for Soto and he doesn’t have much to gain from this fight.
Assuming your right in terms of how Joe Silva and Dana White view both GS and Lauzon, consider that sometimes a guy signs a fight when he has little to gain and much to lose.
Jon Fitch has done it before, and may have to do it again if DW won’t give him the title rematch he deserves.
After all, how many wins does Jon Fitch need in order to get a title shot? the guy has only lost once in 8 years.
If Fitch weighed 235 pounds, he’d be Fedor, with only a slightly less obnoxious posse and training camp ;)
All jokes aside, my point here is if a longtime UFC veteran and fairly well-known fighter like Fitch still gets saddled from time to time with sh!t fights, as do other UFC fighters sometimes do, then its going to happen to a guy like Sotiropoulos, who hasn’t been in the org nearly as long as Fitch has, nor does he have the recognition amongst UFC fans that Fitch and some other fighters have…