UFN: Florian vs. Lauzon; I'm Optimistic, I Think

I'll be honest, I don't really know what to think about the upcoming Ultimate Fight Night card scheduled for April. It's going to come after a long drought of UFC cards in March, since UFC 82 will be on the first of the month and there won't be another fight between the two. It will also immediately preced the UFC's first venture into Montreal, a fight that I think (and this is just an idea at this point) will probably be headed up by a rematch between Canadian Georges St. Pierre and champion Matt Serra, and hold a top contenders match for St. Pierre's countryman and training partner Patrick Cote.

Still, the Florian vs. Lauzon card provides some interesting issues for me, because the Boston boys are both incredible fighters and both have a history of being very impressive and very well rounded, but at the same time I have a hard time giving this matchup the credibility that it deserves.

I'll say that I'm skeptical, because Lauzon did burst on to the scene by knocking out one of the most notable fighters in the history of his division, but Florian is 6-1 at 155 pounds, and his only loss is to Champion Sean Sherk, who was unable to finish Florian even when given 5 rounds.

Florian, like Lauzon, has a penchant for finishing fights, and he's finished all six of his wins, using his muay thai skills honed with Mark Dellagrate (probably the best American muay thai coach besides, arguably, Duke Roofus) and his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blackbelt.

It seems like Lauzon is seriously outclassed, and while Lauzon has never been beaten in a major octagon event and has had impressively devastating performances in his first three fights, he's still got a way to go before I see him as the top contender that Florian is. After all, Florian made it to the finals on the Ultimate Fighter, and he was fighting in a much higher weight class.


I think Lauzon will bring it in this matchup, but I'm not sure if that will be enough to handle Florian's clearly superior technical pedigree. I hope that the two guys can make this a war, but I see this fight getting finished early one way or the other, and I'm betting on Florian.