Lauzon-Stephens highlights UFN 17
By Dave Meltzer, Yahoo! Sports
Feb 6, 2:00 pm EST
The UFC’s four-week world tour comes to an end Saturday night with a Spike TV special headlined by former “Ultimate Fighter” cast member Joe Lauzon facing Jeremy Stephens in a battle of lightweights.
The UFC’s month-long trek, which started in Dublin, Ireland, and also hit San Diego for a WEC card, and Las Vegas, ends at the University of South Florida’s Sun Dome, where nearly 5,000 tickets had been sold as of early in the week. The card is built more around the brand name UFC, and is designed to showcase potential future stars rather than drawing with any major match.
Lauzon originally was slated to face former title challenger Hermes Franca, but Franca suffered a torn ACL in his right knee. With so many shows in a short period of time, there was literally nobody available under contract in the division that wasn’t already scheduled.
Franca’s training partner, Jeremy Stephens, who was already scheduled to face “Ultimate Fighter” Season 8 champion Efrain Escudero on April 1 in Nashville, Tenn., stepped up and agreed to “do a Koscheck,” UFC-speak for taking a fight as a late sub, while still committing to his original fight.
“The biggest thing for me was the gap when I didn’t know who I was fighting,” said Lauzon about what went down two weeks ago. “When Hermes got hurt, they told me they didn’t know if there’s going to be a fight.
“Jeremy’s awesome. He’s a good striker, good all-around. I train all the time so I don’t think anything is going to catch me by surprise.”
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“He was training really hard,” Stephens said about Franca. “He did have some information and a game plan that he gave me. He’s pretty aggressive with the stand-up. He told me what to watch out for and what to expect. I have a game plan and Hermes played a big part in that.”
The 24-year-old Lauzon (17-4), who made a name for himself during Season 7 of “The Ultimate Fighter” hopes he got rid of his main event jitters when he lost last April to Kenny Florian on a Spike special.
“I usually don’t feel pressure for my fights,” said the native of Bridgewater, Mass. “For me, it was a much bigger deal being in the main event. It did bother me a little bit.
“I thought it was the end of the world when I lost to Kenny. I was meant to lose that fight so I’m meant to win this one.”
But Lauzon considers that a learning experience.
“I’m very excited to be headlining another card,” he said. “When I fought Kenny Florian, I felt Kenny was headlining and I was just the opponent. This time, I’m the bigger name and I feel like I’m headlining and Jeremy is the opponent. I think it’ll be a great fight. Me and Jeremy always have exciting fights and I think we’re going to go out there and try and kill each other for as long as it takes.”
Stephens (14-3) is coming off a knockout win over Rafael dos Anjos on Nov. 15 in Las Vegas that should end up on the best-of-2008 highlight reel. Stephens knows that making an impression on one of UFC’s biggest shows in its history was one of the best ways possible to make his name.
“Still (though), to this day, a lot of people don’t recognize who I am,” said the 22-year-old native of Des Moines, Iowa, who now trains in South Florida with the American Top Team. “Getting a main event against Joe Lauzon is a big deal. He fought on the reality show, knocked out Jens Pulver (in a 2006 match) and has great recognition.”
In many ways, Stephens is in the position Lauzon was when he went into the cage against Pulver at UFC 63, as a young guy expected to be rolled over, and he had nothing to lose.
“I can only go up,” said Stephens. “Lauzon is a bigger name. I have no pressure. I can only gain from this.”
Lauzon has to guard against a mental letdown, both from the changing of opponents, as well as all the soap opera of training partner B.J. Penn both before and after last week’s match with Georges St. Pierre. Lauzon was frank about what went down on Saturday and why.
“B.J.’s not that big for 155,” he noted. “Georges is a huge 170-pounder. It was ambitious. B.J. got beat by the bigger and better fighter.”
“I won’t say it’s a letdown (to fight Stephens instead of Franca),” he said. “Hermes did have a bigger name. It’s now someone new coming in who can make a big splash. I had the same thing with Pulver. I knocked out Jens and everyone knew who I was. What your name value is and what you are as a fighter are two different things.”
The show also is a showcase for several fighters, most notably heavyweight Cain Velasquez and lightweight Mac Danzig. Velasquez (4-0), who many feel could be UFC heavyweight champion by this time next year, has been featured heavily in the television ads for the fight in an attempt to get his name value to the public up to at least close to what his respect level is among fighters. He faces Denis Stojnic (5-1), brought in from Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Velasquez has become one of the most difficult fighters for matchmaker Joe Silva to book because name talent wants nothing to do with him. Javier Mendez, his trainer, has called him the single most talented person who was walked through the doors of the American Kickboxing Academy, a huge statement when you consider names like B.J. Penn, Frank Shamrock, Cung Le, Jon Fitch, Lyoto Machida and Josh Koscheck are just a few of the names that have come to his gym.
Stojnic is the second straight heavyweight from Europe brought in specifically because they couldn’t get anyone already under contract to take the fight.
Danzig (18-5-1), the Season 7 winner of “The Ultimate Fighter,” is attempting to rebound from a loss to Clay Guida, and faces Josh Neer. Neer (24-7-1) is coming off an exciting split decision loss to Nate Diaz, followed by a New Year’s Day DUI charge.
There also is an interesting battle in the prelims, with Dan Miller (10-1), bringing nine fights in a row without a loss, facing three-time NCAA wrestling champion Jake Rosholt (5-0) of Oklahoma State. It’s Rosholt’s UFC debut after starting out in the WEC, and moving over when the middleweight division of WEC was moved to UFC. Rosholt’s debut showed him as a mixed bag. He lacks experience, but has excellent takedowns and ground and pound. But he’s got a major Achilles heel that he’ll have to improve on in the shark-infested UFC waters: his awful stand-up defense.
Thus far, he’s been rocked by good shots but has always managed to keep his bearings and get the match back on the ground, where he finishes it. But unless he improves on the punch defense issue, he’s going to be in trouble here. With Miller, he’s facing his highest caliber opponent, who is especially known for his skills on the ground.
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