After the news broke recently that Joe Lauzon suffered an injury and had to pull out of his UFC 180 bout with Diego Sanchez, many in the mixed-martial-arts community were quick to criticize, claiming many of today’s generation of fighters are simply taking advantage of the company’s generous insurance coverage policy.
“J-Lau” was quick to respond to the doubters, writing the following on his official website about the situation:
“It’s important to understand the difference between being injured and being hurt. Every fighter on the UFC roster, is constantly HURT. Hurt is what we call those nagging injuries that just never seem to heal and constantly flare up and inevitably get worse as soon as camp starts. Sore knees, ankles, hands, neck, back, etc. What would stop most people in their tracks, we push through because we always have fights coming up to get ready for. Now on the other hand, Injuries are when training is no longer possible… because something is seriously wrong… People love to complain that this is the fighters taking advantage of the UFC’s medical insurance, but that is crazy talk. It’s not that we are THRILLED to be hurt and off a card. We ultimately miss out on 1/2 to 1/3 of our yearly income… and in some cases, LOSE money by the time we pay coaches, buy flights etc. For this particular fight, I lost about $3,000 on flights alone. Does that seem like a situation where it helped me to not fight and pull out?”
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