Joe Lauzon vs. Jeremy Stephens

Both of Jeremy Stephens and Joe Lauzon are classified as “youngsters with potential”. What the fans are looking for here is a decisive winner. After all, said winner will have the tough task of heading into the top 10 of what is arguably the UFC’s most competitive division.

J-Lau has had lots of dominating performances before, during and after season 5 of the Ultimate Fighter. All that momentum screeched to a halt when Kenny Florian, the would-be title challenger of the lightweight division, defeated him. There’s no shame in that because Kenny has beaten everyone in the division not named Sean Sherk. Only time will tell if Kenny can take out BJ Penn…but that’s another story.

Stephens has had ups and downs in the UFC but he’s always looked spirited. Dana loves a guy that has more guts than ability. In all fairness to Jeremy he is quite talented and he showed it against Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 91. More important is the knockout power he displayed in that fight. If Joe Lauzon’s taking this match lightly he could easily find himself waking up at the bottom of the 155 ladder.

Jeremy Stephens has been susceptible to submissions though. The key to victory for Joe is to make sure this stays a tactical battle. We all know he loves to come out guns blazing but that strategy is both high risk and high reward. Hopefully BJ and the rest of his training camp have taken time off from their pointless accusations to prepare a solid game plan for their fighter. If not, Jeremy has a decent chance of pulling off the upset.

Joe Lauzon is the more well-rounded fighter. He’s also more prepared for being in the main event of a UFC show where Stephens is a replacement for the injured Hermes Franca, another reason I’m picking Lauzon to win the fight.

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