Is Joe Lauzon The Dark Horse Of the Lightweight Division?

Born on May 22, 1984, Joe "J-Lau" Lauzon has made one of the biggest impacts in UFC history.

Joe was raised on a small farm in Massachusetts and was interested in computers at a very young age. He would have fun breaking computers and then putting them back together.

In 2006, Lauzon graduated from Wentworth Institute of Technology in computer technology. Lauzon began training in MMA in his junior year of High School. Joe trained in grappling and had his first amateur fight in 2002.

Two years later, Joe had his first pro fight in a local organization of Massachusetts. He won an eight men tournament and was crowned WFL Grand Prix Tournament back in 2006. Later in the year, Joe was named fighter of the year by a local MMA outlet. Now that his pro career had taken off, Joe made an impact by winning his first eight fights, all by submission, including one against current WEC featherweight champion Mike Brown.

With a record of 13-3, Joe was offered a UFC contract. He was supposed to be an easy win for the returning Jens Pulver at UFC 63, but things didn't go according to planned. Joe crashed Pulver's party in 47 seconds and got a KO win.

With a UFC debut as explosive as this, Joe was offered a place as one of the 16 contestants on season five of The Ultimate Fighter which featured only lightweights. Joe was chosen to be on team BJ Penn to compete against team Jens Pulver.

Joe defeated Brian Geraghty and then Cole Miller only to lose a decision to Manny Gamburyan in the semi-finals. The rise to the top was only beginning for Joe who defeated Brandon Melendez at the finale.

From there, Joe mowed right through Jason Reinhardt at UFC 78 in 1:14 and got a shot at top competition against Kenny Florian. Joe put on a pretty good performance against Florian before getting TKO'ed in round 2.

The loss sent Lauzon back a little but he came back strong with back to back wins against Kyle Bradley and Jeremy Stephens. During the fight, Joe got injured and has now been sidelined for an undetermined period of time.

With impressive wins against some of the division's best fighters, Joe will most likely get some very interesting fights when he comes back. Joe has one of the best ground game in the lightweight division and that makes him very dangerous fighter for anyone.

It would be very interesting to see Joe comeback and get a fight against a top 10 fighter like Gray Maynard or Nate Diaz. I truly believe that Lauzon can be a force to be reckoned with in the future. He's only 25 years old and still has plenty of years of fighting left.