George Sotiropoulos and Joe Lauzon to fight at UFC 123
Two rising prospects in the lightweight division are set to clash at UFC 123, according to mmamania.com. The website broke the news late Wednesday afternoon that George Sotiropoulos, a rare Australian mixed martial arts superstar, and Joe Lauzon will clash on 20 November in Auburn Hills, Michigan.
The news rubbishes an earlier set of rumours published by the Sydney Morning Herald that the UFC was planning to set up a headlining fight between Sotiropoulos and either Kenny Florian or long-time former champion B.J Penn as a title eliminator fight, to be held in Sotiropoulos’s homeland of Australia.
Sotiropoulos, 33, has been on a tear, rising through the lightweight division when most fighters are beginning to slow down in their careers. A Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist, he has lost only twice in his career, once by disqualification to Japanese superstar Shinya Aoki, and once by split decision to Kyle Noke. He is 6-0 in the UFC, and has picked up steam against tougher and tougher opponents, including two consecutive unanimous decisions against Joe Stevenson at UFC 110 and then Kurt Pellegrino at UFC 116. He got his break on the reality show tournament The Ultimate Fighter season 6, where he lost an exhibition match against Tommy Speer to get eliminated from the tournament, but still earned his shot on the UFC.
Lauzon on the other hand began in the UFC at UFC 63, where he defeated Jens Pulver by KO. Ironically, Lauzon then joined the cast of TUF season 5, where Pulver was his coach. Like Sotiropoulous, he would be eliminated from the tournament only to earn another shot in the UFC. Since then, he’s gone 5-2, with losses to Sam Stout and Kenny Florian as well as victories over Jeremy Stephens and Gabe Ruediger. He is just 26.
With his undefeated UFC record, Sotiropoulos will come into this fight as the favourite. Though he is not getting fast tracked for a title shot as many believed, a win here would put him likely in a title eliminator situation.
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