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BostonHerald.com - Blogs: Inside The Octagon

Dan Lauzon motivated, ready to triumph

It may be surprising to hear that Dan Lauzon is in better shape heading into Saturday’s bout with John Ortolani, at Triumph Fighter in Milford, N.H., than he was with his two previous fights in the UFC.

But after hearing about his public problems with conditioning it’s a sign that this lightweight could be headed in the direction many thought he would - up.

Sometimes a little tough love can go a long way. After Dan and his brother Joe sparred over his training regimen it looks as though “The Upgrade” has turned over a new leaf as he heads into the cage for the first time since being released by the UFC.

“Yeah I feel good right now. I feel ready. I’ve been training hard. I’m focused and am getting after it and getting in good shape,” Dan Lauzon said. “I’m getting more serious about it. For a little while I kind of fell off, I wasn’t taking it serious and had a lot of (expletive) going on. Everything between me and (Joe) and having a fallout and stuff, but now everything is good.”

No one has ever questioned the skills of the 22-year-old lightweight. He started training at age 14 and was the youngest fighter to compete in UFC at 18 years, 7 months and 14 days. The only thing questioned for the Bridgewater native was his level of commitment to his training.

The problems came to fruition last spring when Joe Lauzon, head coach Joe Pomfret and boxing coach Steve Maze didn’t make the trip to UFC 115 with him because of his lack of commitment in the gym.

After getting his walking papers from the UFC, Dan’s training has nearly done a 180. This summer he started to hit the gym hard. He still trains with his brother and has been working with UFC middleweight Tom Lawlor at Lauzon MMA in Bridgewater. He also works out with WEC featherweight Josh Grispi and his coaches, Scott Lockhart and Bill Mahoney, at South Shore Sport Fighting in Rockland.

Dan now finds himself training harder for this local fight than recent bouts in the UFC and Affliction, even though there’s less spotlight and less money involved. It’s motivated him to keep up the pace and get back on a bigger stage but it’s the busy schedule and ability to fight on a more consistent basis that has kept him grounded.

From his last fight with Affliction to his return with the UFC, he nearly had a year off, which hurt him.

“I just want to stay busy. Before when I was fighting outside of the UFC and outside of Affliction it was easy to get fights quickly. Fighting rapidly and regularly on a yearly basis,” Dan said. “It kept me in the gym and training and on downtime it kept me focused. Kind of having those little layoffs with the UFC and with Affliction it hurt me a little bit because out of the gym I would be out with friends and partying and doing what I do.

“It was tough for me because you go out and party or whatever, then in four months you go back in the gym and you hurt yourself so much by partying and taking time off. Right now I’m excited about it. I just want to get out there and fight on a regular basis - every month, every other month.”

Saturday he takes on Ortolani, a professional lacrosse player for the Boston Blazers and Cannons. The strong and athletic 24-year-old has had success on the local scene (4-1) but will be taking a huge step up in competition with the three-time UFC veteran.

If all goes well Dan Lauzon, who is teaching classes at SSSF on Thursday nights and private workouts at Lauzon MMA, hopes to fight again at the end of October.

[ckauffman28]

think he would be decent in bellatar but no more ufc..