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Lauzon And Efrain Escudero Look To Get Back To Winning Ways At UFC 114

May 27, 2010, 5:49 PM UTC

Dan Lauzon is apparently still fighting in the UFC, which is pretty impressive considering he is yet to make it out of the first round fighting for the promotion. After dropping his debut to Spencer Fisher at UFC 64 in 2006, he wound up on the business end of a nasty kimura from Cole Miller at UFC 108 in January. The proverbial buffer between Lauzon and the grim reaper is growing exceedingly thin, but he gets another chance to prove his dissenters wrong May 29th at UFC 114 against Efrain Escudero.

Escudero, fresh off a loss to Evan Dunham at UFC Fight Night 20, has spent his time between fights finishing up his bachelors degree in criminal justice, something he credits much of his success in the cage to. This upcoming fight with Lauzon will be his first without having to worry about his schoolwork, and he hopes the extra time spent training will be apparent May 29th. After making the move from Southwest MMA to nearby ‘The Lab’ following his lose to Dunham, Escudero decided to dedicate much more of an effort into his strength and conditioning.

Unfortunatly, it seems that not everyone got the memo about working hard, that is, of course, if you take much stock in anything his brother Joe has to say. That sure was a lot of words, and if you’re anything like me, time is money and so and so. The guy I pay to read for me thought I should include some of these great quotes from big brother Joe. Family feud comedy gold.

“In my eyes, and in the eyes of our coaches, Dan has never put in an honest training camp. He has strung together 3 or 4 good weeks here and there... but never anything any longer. It’s always him rushing at the end to cram a 12 weeks camp into 3.”
”You have never seen someone that has no job because they are a “full-time fighter” that trains less. There is a list a mile long of things he has to do... but training is usually way down the list.”
“He is never in the gym. If he has a fight, he is in sparingly. If he doesn’t have a fight he is an absolute ghost.”
”I was just asking him what he was doing, as opposed to telling him what he should be doing and he threw the “overbearing dickhead” comment in my face.”

After being given an ultimatum from Joe, trainer Joe Pomfret, and boxing coach Steve Maze, Dan was told his three cornermen would not be making the journey to the city of industry unless his training habits drastically improved. Reportedly that hasn’t happened; the situation has deteriorated to the point where replacements have been arranged in the form of TUF alum John Clarke, WEC fighter Josh Grispi, and his training partner Brandon Chase. This is all great news for Escudero, who I have been advised to bet heavily on. Too bad gambling is illegal, kids. While both young fighters are hungry coming off a loss, it looks like one might be just a bit hungrier.