Joe Lauzon Reportedly Out Of UFC 180 Bout Against Diego Sanchez
Next month’s (November 15, 2015) UFC 180 pay-per-view (PPV) card has been hit hard in the last two days. After losing the star of the card, champion Cain Velasquez, it is also being reported by MMAJunkie.com that UFC veteran Joe Lauzon has also pulled out of his fight against Diego Sanchez for unknown reasons.
A source close to the fighter confirmed the news, but did not elaborate on the reason as to why Lauzon could not compete because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. It is also unclear if a replacement opponent will step in to face Sanchez on less than a month’s notice.
This is the second opponent that had to pull out of this bout, as Sanchez was originally supposed to take on Irishman Norman Parke.
Lauzon is currently riding a two-fight winning streak. He recently bested former The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) winner Michael Chiesa due to TKO by doctor’s stoppage at UFC Fight Night 50 in Connecticut. Lauzon and Chiesa earned “Fight of The Night” honors. J-Lau now owns 13 post-fight bonuses.
Sanchez, who is a former The Ulitmate Fighter (TUF) 1 winner scored a win his last time out as well; however it was a highly controversial one at that against Ross Pearson last June. This ended a two-fight losing streak for “The Nightmare”.
Under these unfortunate circumstances, UFC 180 now looks like this:
Mark Hunt vs. Fabricio Werdum – for interim heavyweight title
Jake Ellenberger vs. Kelvin Gastelum
Diego Sanchez vs. TBA
Dennis Bermudez vs. Ricardo Lamas
Edgar Garcia vs. Hector Urbina
Jessica Eye vs. Leslie Smith
Chris Heatherly vs. Augusto Montano
opponent TBA vs. opponent TBA – “TUF: Latin America” featherweight final
opponent TBA vs. opponent TBA – “TUF: Latin America” bantamweight final
