Joe Lauzon reveals UFC turned down pitched Boston return fight against Chase Hooper
UFC lightweight contender Joe Lauzon will have to wait to return to the octagon.
UFC 292 is slated to go down this Saturday night from Boston. Headlining the event is a bantamweight title clash between Aljamain Sterling and Sean O’Malley. However, that’s not the only title bout as Weili Zhang will defend her women’s strawweight gold against Amanda Lemos in the co-main event.
While a spectacular card featuring names such as Ian Garry and others, Boston fans won’t get to see Joe Lauzon this weekend. ‘J-Lau’ has been out of the cage for a while, to put it lightly. The former Ultimate Fighter contestant last competed on the UFC’s last trip to Boston in 2019, defeating Jonathan Pearce.
Since then, Joe Lauzon has been quiet, save for a pair of canceled fights against Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone. The two were supposed to fight last summer but had both outings canceled. The Hall of Famer instead had his retirement fight against Jim Miller later that year at UFC 276.
However, Joe Lauzon’s retirement fight has yet to be booked, and he might be waiting a while. As first reported by Nolan King of MMA Junkie, the UFC lightweight repeatedly attempted to get himself booked on UFC 292. In fact, he even proposed a fight against prospect Chase Hooper for the card.
However, the UFC turned down that fight, as well as Joe Lauzon’s services in general. In the update, the UFC legend made it clear that he wasn’t sure if, or when he would fight again. Regardless, the longtime fighter won’t get the Boston return that he wanted.
What do you make of this news? Would you have liked to see Joe Lauzon fight Chase Hooper at UFC 292?
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Joe Lauzon UFC
