UFC on Fox 4′s Joe Lauzon: Being an Exciting Fighter is Job Security

It's a never-ending debate in mixed martial arts: fighting to be exciting versus fighting to win.

Now obviously in an ideal world, exciting fighters would always win, but that's just not the case very often. Sometimes the risk of being exciting comes with the disappointment of getting caught with an errant punch, or putting yourself in a bad position to get caught in a submission.

The UFC has shown, however, in terms of long term employment to keep the exciting fighters over the ones who just go out looking to win that are sometimes perceived as boring.

For example, Chris Lytle had 20 fights in the UFC. Overall he was 10-10 in the Octagon, but the higher ups at the promotion always loved his performances and in the end it netted him more than a half a million dollars in bonuses, the most in company history.

Joe Lauzon looks at fighters like Lytle or even Dan Hardy and points to their longevity in the UFC as his inspiration come fight time. Sure, Lauzon wants to capture a UFC title one day like any fighter who competes there, but he also understands that fans will always want to watch and pay to watch an exciting fight.

That's what Lauzon is there to do.

“People always talk about how it's two losses and you're gone. Tell that to Dan Hardy. When Dan Hardy lost a bunch of fights and they kept him because he's well liked, he has exciting fights, every time he fights I go ‘this is going to be a good fight', and win or lose that's what really matters,” Lauzon told MMAWeekly Radio.

“If you get excited about watching somebody fighting, that is job security.”

When Lauzon was first scheduled for this weekend's UFC on Fox 4 card he was supposed to be facing British fighter Terry Etim. Ultimately, Etim got injured and was forced out of the fight, but Lauzon never lost his spot.

The spot was a main card televised slot for the Fox show, and any fighter will tell you that being on the main televised card whether it's pay-per-view or Fox is always what they strive to achieve.

It goes to show just how much Lauzon is liked by the UFC and performs for them because even before they secured former WEC champion Jamie Varner as a replacement, he was always going to be on the main card for the show.

“For the UFC to tell me that right off the bat that they have faith in me and that it's my spot, I know that I'm doing something right,” he said.

Lauzon is excited to face someone like Jamie Varner, especially coming off a huge win over young prodigy Edson Barboza in his last fight, but the end game for the Massachusetts based fighter is making the fans happy.

If they go home happy they spent money to see him and the UFC executives like Dana White and Joe Silva like what he does in the cage, Lauzon considers that a job well done.

“I think my UFC record's like 8-4 and I'm sure there are guys that have better records,” said Lauzon. “But I'd rather be exciting with 8-4 than boring and be 11-1.”

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