Taken from: http://www.wickedlocal.com/raynham/sports/x1885887291/Bridgewater-MMA-fighter-Joe-Lauzon-eyes-return-to-ring-in-09

UFC lightweight title contender and Bridgewater native Joe Lauzon does not rattle easily.

Just 11 days after an electrifying second-round armbar submission victory over Jeremy Stephens to headline SpikeTv’s Fight Night 17 on Feb. 7, Lauzon’s (18-4, 5 KOs, 13 subs) possible title hopes were put on hold when he suffered a torn ACL that forced him to undergo surgery. (continue reading…)

I am doing an autograph signing at the Hot Dog Safari at Suffolk Downs this weekend from 12 until 2. The Hot Dog Safari is a cystic fibrosis benefit. It costs $15 ($10 if you buy in advance) and its all you can eat hot dogs. I don’t know about other UFC fighters being there, but I know there will be other athletes and celebrities doing signings as well.   (continue reading…)

A bunch of the guys from my gym went to Dave and Busters last night. For those that don’t know, D&B is a bar/restaurant/arcade. We went and grabbed some dinner and then hit up games for a few hours. Early in the night April did the Spin-N-Win and won a thousand tickets. She was all pumped and we were too… because it was like her 5th play and she had so many tickets they had to reload the machine. (continue reading…)

I am on weight, and its a great feeling. We hit up the sauna a little earlier and we are good to go. I am just hanging low while everyone else disappeared. They all went to go and grab some food, which I (unfortunately) cant have for a few more hours. Going to eat like a fat kid in a few hours though.

Sunday was a pretty relaxed day. We woke up late this morning and just hung in watching some TV. We went for a walk and found some food before heading to watch some football. Pats DOMINATED today. Yes, dominated. After that, we went and saw ‘Burn After Reading’ at the movie theatre in Council Bluffs. Came back to the hotel, watched some Entourage and went for a swim. Just relax for a bit more before I go to bed.

I have to do a video interview tomorrow afternoon and a few more people come in tomorrow. Should be a little more eventful than today.

We just landed in Omaha tonight. We left around 1pm and got into Omaha about 6 hours later. There are no direct flights between Boston and Omaha apparently. The weather is actually pretty nice here. We checked in with the UFC and went through all the normal stuff: medicals check, licensing, signing posters, quick interview for UFC.com and getting our schedule for the week. Went and grabbed some food and now just hanging in the hotel room. Not sure what else we are doing, but I have the video camera and digital camera and will try to keep people updated with whatever is going on.

Last week I got to train with not only Ultimate Fighting Championship 155-pound champ B.J. Penn, but also World Extreme Cagefighting 145-pound champ Urijah Faber. I’ve got to be honest, I really can’t complain about spending the week training with two of the best pound-for-pound fighters out there.

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I did an interview with FCTV on Saturday Night after the Gracie Proving Grounds show. We covered some things like my training schedule, training with the Penns, food (my favorite) and being a Haole.

Nate and Karo had some "issues" in the Team Pulver locker room after Manny won his fight. Karo was complaining to the Team Pulver corner that they pissed him off because they should have been quiet, so he could yell instructions to Manny from the audience in Armenian. Thats pretty ballsy to complain to Manny’s corner that they should keep their mouths shut so he can yell instructions from the side. Diaz jokingly says "You’re the new guy here" and played it off being cool. Karo started on Diaz and kept giving him a hard time talking down to him and putting his hands all over him. If I had to some up Nate in one sentence, it would be: "I ain’t no bitch". Nate wasn’t happy about Karo’s persistence and was 100% ready to throw down. Who does Karo think he is? "Who are you? Do you even know me? Do you know who I am?" When someone is saying things like that, you know they are arrogant and need someone to reign them in. Fortunately, everything was cool between Manny and Nate regardless of what happened with Karo. From the Team Penn dressing room, we could hear something was going on between Karo and Diaz, and we figured it had something to do with how Nate’s brother had lost a real close decision to Karo. I guess that wasn’t the start of the problems, but Karo was bringing it up saying things like "Go ask your brother what happens when you try to fight me".

After one of my fights Karo starting giving me a hard time too. He came over and yelled across the mat something like "hey nice fight" and I just said "thanks". He starts saying "Oh is that all you have to say to me? Thanks? Speak up and say a little more next time." What more do you say though when someone congratulates you without coming off as cocky? "Oh yeah, I’m the man. I just won my fight with ease and killed that guy. I rule". The incident with me happened before the problems had with Karo, but I could see where Diaz was coming from on Karo. I don’t think Karo had any problems with me, its just his attitude and how he comes off.

Semi final fights were decided at the beginning of this weeks show. We had talked amongst ourselves, and we would rather keep the team intact and not be forced to have me fight Gray. Its just a much better situation fighting someone that you haven’t been training with twice a day everyday for 5 weeks. We thought Gray matched up better with Diaz while I matched up better with Manny. Manny was actually the guy I had requested in the second round, so I kind of figured that would be taken into account when they decided fights and it apparently was. Jens and BJ had a conference call with Dana and everyone all around liked those pairings, so thats how it was decided. I was just happy that training could remain the same and we wouldnt have to deal with splitting up the team or working different practices or any of the other stuff that Team Pulver had to deal with when Diaz fought Corey.

I was looking forward to this week show more than any other, because I am always looking to improve, and this fight showed all kinds of ways I could improve. Manny beat me by decision after 3 rounds. I knew going into the fight, that it was going to be a war with Manny. I could see the trouble that Manny gave Wiman in their fight, and there were a number of things I was concerned with, but I thought I could come up with an answer for each of them.

I was smart enough in the beginning of the show, to take notes on every fight. As soon as each fight was over, I had a rough play by play of the fight, and I made notes on what each guy did well, not so well, and what they did often. For Manny, I didn’t have a lot to go off based on his fight with Noah. His fight with Wiman showed me a lot more, and confirmed some of the things I had seen in the first fight.

The first issue was his overhand right. Manny absolutely loves to come up and swing for the fences and bomb that overhand right to close the distance. He dropped Noah with it, and he caught Wiman with it a few times as well. I had to be careful of it, but I had a lot or reach and did a good job at keeping him away, so it never really played into our fight so much. It was something to watch out for, but I didn’t see it as a real problem.

The next thing was his height. Manny is super short and we jokingly referred to him as the "bad elf". We were training for the fight and we would be doing ground and pound and BJ would have be yelling "Bad elf! Bad elf!" as I threw punched. It was kind of funny, but its really accurate. Manny is built like a tank, and while his reach is short, his upper body is enormous. I knew I didn’t want to get into any kind of clinch with him because he is so thick and I was worried he would throw me on my head coming from such a strong judo background. We worked in stuffing his shots in practice and working the front headlock, but come fight time I just couldnt get it done to the point I wanted. Manny was great at closing the distance and taking me down.

The next thing was his grappling and scrambling. I stuffed some of Manny’s takedowns, but I could never capitalize and get on top. He was really good at scrambling. It seemed like whenever I would make space or create an opening, he would either close it down right away or he would beat me to wherever I was trying to go. I have a very explosive style which makes for exciting fights, but I have trouble sometimes with someone thats just trying to slow the pace and grind the fight down to a crawl.

Manny did a great job of staying safe and controlling. Like Wiman had said about his own fight, I didn’t feel like Manny did a lot of damage to me. I had a swollen lip which I think might have been from a head butt, but I felt like I didn’t really get all that much. Aside from my lip, I don’t think I had a mark on my face. I did a good job on bottom of staying safe and not taking damage, but I couldn’t get up or get anything going so it wasn’t enough. Manny has short arms and no neck with a huge upper body, so I had a hell of a time trying to create any openings. Manny controlled the fight and did everything he needed in order to win the fight.

I think I was too patient in the fight and it hurt me in the long run. There have been times in the past where I have been over aggressive and taken chances I maybe shouldn’t have. Sometimes they work out beautifully and other times they get me in trouble (shooting in too quickly on Cole at the beginning of round 1 is a good example). I allowed Manny to control because I didn’t take enough chances for the first two rounds. In the third round I swept Manny with a sweep that I like a lot from the bottom of half guard. I was able to pass his guard, take side mount, then mount and finally take his back. I got VERY close with the choke. So close it makes me almost sick to my stomach watching the tape and knowing how close I got before falling short. Manny has no neck and a huge upper body, so while I got under his chin and had the choke in deep, he was able to pop my elbow off and I lost back control. From there, the fight was over.

I honestly think the sweep was there the whole fight, but I was paranoid about going for it. Going for that particular sweep can leave you open to elbows and punches if it doesn’t work and you get stuck… so I wanted to try other options first. In hindsight, I wish I had gone for it in round 1 because I would have had more time to work and maybe changed the rhythm of the fight. Hindsight is always 20/20 though, so I will remember it for next time and not cry over it now.

I try to take something positive from every fight, especially when I lose. I had said that there was never a point when Wiman was in danger of losing the fight, and I felt the same way about my fight with Manny. He controlled the fight and 100% deserved the win and its something I will have to deal with. Could I have maybe changed the path of the fight had I gone for that sweep? Maybe. Or maybe I would have hit the sweep and Manny would have been fresher and scrambled and I never would have gotten his back, or gotten close with the choke. I was frustrated to put everything I had into winning and then fall short at the very end, but it happens and I’m not bitter about it. I said from the moment I decided to go on the show that it would be great to win, but the training experience would be the real benefit. I said something like "All for nothing" to BJ after I had lost, but I don’t really feel like that. That was just a low point of "Wow this sucks" and I was fine 10 minutes later. I do feel like I grew tremendously as a fighter and had my eyes opened to a lot of things, so hopefully I will do BJ proud and show off some more things that I learned on the show with a little more refinement.

The food fight that was shown on the show really didn’t do that battle justice. We came home from training and the Pulver guys were still there because they were taking their afternoon practice off. I walk out the back door and see a piece of orange land at my feet, and Nate is standing there with a banana in hand waiting to throw it at Brian who is in the pool house. I ask whats going on, and Nate is like "Uh…. not much. Just killing some time" and he whips a banana at the door. For a bunch of guys that have been bored out of their mind for 5 weeks, this was the best thing ever. We ran inside looking for any kind of fruit or food that could be thrown. The goldmine though, was when I found a few bags of potatoes. We loaded up, and helped with the assault. I think there were around 5 or 6 outside of the pool house attacking Cole and Brian who were inside. We had the number and were braver, so we were trying to break in through the front door which they would look. Then they set up the ping pong table and used it as a shield. Gray and I decided to go Navy Seal style and attack through the side window. We started out throwing things through but when I saw an opening I dove through the window and unleashed potatoe hell on Brian and Cole who were cowering in the corner. Cole ran for the bathroom while Brian just took the beating. Eventually he joined Cole in the bathroom, and I laid blocking the door to make sure they couldn’t get out. Meanwhile, someone **cough cough Emerson cought cough** threw a pot through the window and sent glass everywhere. And that concluded the fruit war.

Looking at Diaz as a fighter, he will give you problems no matter where the fight is. He is a southpaw with a lot of reach on most people, and has tight boxing and doesn’t over commit. He will hit you all day from his feet and has all kinds of tricks he uses. For example, one thing he did very well was using his lead hand to grab Emerson’s fingers and throw punches from there. Little things like that can really cause problems for you in a fight. On the ground, he is just as dangerous if not more dangerous. Nate has very tight Jiu-Jitsu and uses his long arms and legs well. He is constantly transitioning from one thing to the next and everything he does it solid.

Gray on the other hand is a great wrestler with hands that complement his wrestling well. He doesn’t have the best Jiu-Jitsu but he has enough to stay out of most submissions and lay a beating on you. Gray is much stronger than Diaz, but strength isnt everything.

The fight between Gray and Diaz was great. Gray controlled and was getting the takedowns and was winning from the top, landing big shots all over and even cutting Nate. Nate held strong though and kept working submissions. Nate could take some big shots, but if he caught Gray in a submission it was over. Nate got really close to some submissions throughout the first. but Gray just powered out of everything and kept landing shots. Round 1 ended and it was looking like Gray was going to take it. Round 2 starts off and before long Gray is mounted on Nate and working a guillotine. Nate gets back on top and its looking bad for Gray. As Gray fights to get back to his feet and work a takedown, Nate locks in a guillotine.

I am very impressed with Nate, who won all 3 of his fights by submission. He finished Rob with a rear naked, Corey with a guillotine and then Gray with a guillotine. Nate was constantly moving and even when the fight wasn’t going his way, he stayed strong and kept composure and came back to win. Nate DIaz is a complete badass… end of story.

I can’t wait for the finale between Nate and Manny. I think this was the best season so far and we all did a good job of representing the lightweight division. I’m not even going to pick a winner, because I don’t want to doubt either guy. I am just going to sit back and enjoy the fight like everyone else.

Episode 5 should be called "Trimming the fat". In all honesty, as a team we tried our best to ensure that Gabe didn’t miss weight. We were constantly hounding Gabe about watching his diet more and working out harder. There is a saying that you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. In this case, we could lead Gabe down the path to making weight but we couldn’t get him to stop eating. Gabe would have a "healthy" dinner of salad and bell peppers while we ate Pasta at night after training, and he would be miserable about it but he would be doing what he needed. However, later on he would be snacking on things, or just pounding bowls of cereal. You can’t do the diet correctly some of the time, and then forget about it later. Everyone on Team Penn knew that Gabe was way overweight, but he constantly assured us he would make the weight. It got to a point where we couldn’t do anything else, and had to just hope that Gabe could deliver on what he was promising. Missing weight would not only affect him, but it also affected fight picks.

We all knew about the show months before we left home. We only had a few weeks notice to know if we were 100% on, but we knew that the opportunity was there and we were expected to be in fight shape and ready to go if needed. Everyone else in the house did what they needed, and made weight. Gabe couldn’t have been dieting, or else he wouldn’t have come into the show so heavy. He had gone to Thailand for a few weeks before the show, and blamed his weight on eating horribly over there, but thats not an excuse. You either find a way to eat healthy, or you don’t go. It wasn’t the first time Gabe had been to Thailand, so not knowing isn’t an excuse. So he really dropped the ball before we were even in the house, because he willingly put himself at a huge disadvantage.

Once in the house, we knew from day 1 his weight was an issue. Someone having trouble with their weight should be doing cardio every single day, and doing whatever was needed to get into shape. We would be in the gym drilling and working out, and he would be walking on the treadmill. Other times, he would miss practices to go and get colonics. Gabe didn’t lose any real weight when he went for the colonic. He would be a pound or so lighter, and then put it back on the next day. Gabe said he found out after he missed weight that getting a colonic can cause dehydration, so that would explain him floating off a pound or two and then putting it back on. So the colonics didn’t make him lose any weight, he missed practices, was sodomized by a tube and was rewarded with a burning diarrhea sensation. He did this 3 times.

On top of slacking in the gym, Gabe should have been following a strict diet because if you don’t make the weight, it doesn’t matter how you perform or how you feel, you don’t get to fight. Brandon Melendez is huge for 155, but he still made the weight because he would do whatever was needed both in the gym and in the kitchen. Brandon was starving himself and absolutely miserable to make the weight, but he manned up and got it done. I am lucky where I know my body well enough that I could make weight in 24 hours notice with ease regardless of what I was eating. I could get away with eating some less than healthy food like ice cream cake (my favorite) and other things. Gabe wasn’t in such a situation, and should have been staying clear of anything like that, but he was still eating ice cream cake, cookies and whatever else. At another point a couple weeks into the show, he got up to 178 pounds because of all the Sushi he ate. He had a couple weeks to really diet and get his weight under control, and there he was higher than ever. Of course he wasn’t losing the weight when you don’t have self control.

The actual weight cut process was a brutal at the end, for both Gabe and us. I used to cut down to 145 pounds, and can honestly say it was the worst thing I have ever experienced. Nobody likes cutting, but you have a target weight and you don’t stop until you meet that goal. Talk to serious college wrestlers, and they will have horror stories about cutting weight and passing in the sauna. When I was cutting to 145 I would be going to sleep laying in the fetal position and shivering as I went to bed. Its that bad. We didn’t honestly know if Gabe even wanted to make the weight, and we still don’t know for sure. Gabe said from the beginning he was there to get all the camera time he could get, and he succeeded in that. In the scheming though, I think he forgot all about the reason he was there, and that was to fight. Did Gabe ever want to make the weight at all? Or maybe he was just trying to ensure his cut to 155 was dramatic and then everyone would be talking "Gabe is the man, he was way overweight but he cut it all and manned up". To be perfectly honest with you, we were completely unsure as a team. Maybe he never had any intention of fighting at all. The last few hours before missing weight, were filled with drama. You only get to see bits and pieces, but the day was filled with Gabe complaining to leave the sauna, falling over weak, falling of the bike in the sauna, telling us to put him back in the sauna while refusing to get off the ground on his own as he cried that he needed our help and of course lounging by poolside au naturale. Gray was a great team mate and was trying to help him with the cut. He was ready to help Gabe from the first minute that we knew Gabe was fighting, but Gabe had it all under control. Gray went above and beyond what Gabe deserved, and showed why he was a captain of his wrestling team.

In the end, Gabe missed the weight. I’m sure he pissed off a lot of people as officials were brought in for a fight that didn’t happen. Both teams met at the gym and Dana told Gabe how much of an opportunity he screwed up, and sent him home. Team Penn is down to 7 members. The part that was aired was just a tiny sliver of what Dana said. Dana’s attention was focused on Gabe and as I stood next to him, I wanted to cry. You know that feeling you get when you were a little kid and you just know you did something really wrong and are caught? Yea… it was that feeling.

Rob Emerson really impressed Dana though in his loss to Nate Diaz, so he had been brought back into the tournament. Dana gave Team Pulver 24 hours to choose the next two fights. The following day, we found out that I will be fighting against Brian Geraighty, and Corey Hill will be fighting Rob. So we will have not 1 but 2 fights next week.

This may seem a little harsh on Gabe, but I’m not going to pull any punches. Gabe went in there and was willing to do anything to get some attention, well he is certainly getting it.