Joe Lauzon: Contender or Pretender in the UFC Lightweight Division

This Saturday night, at UFC 108, UFC lightweight fighter Joe Lauzon returns to action after suffering an injury that has kept him out of the octagon for almost a year.

His opponent will be hard-hitting Canadian fighter Sam "Hands of Stone" Stout.

It is fair to say that Lauzon has already made one of the biggest impressions in the history of the UFC.

In his debut at UFC 63, Luazon knocked out former UFC lightweight champion Jens Pulver, shocking everyone in the arena that night, including his fallen foe "Little Evil". The former champ was a 7:1 favorite to win, but "J-Lau" needed just 48-seconds of the first round to handle his business.

Lauzon garnered more exposure as one of the 16 fighters competing for the six-figure contract on season five of The Ultimate Fighter. He was selected to be on B.J. Penn's team and both fighters immediately bonded. Joe did well on the show by making it to the semi-finals and proved that his win over Pulver was no fluke.

The friendship between Lauzon and Penn continued beyond the show as Joe went to train with B.J. in Hawaii. Even though he didn't win The Ultimate Fighter 5 , Joe came out of the show and wasted no time mixing it up with the top names in the division.

He made short work of Jason Reinhardt at UFC 78 and was then propeled into his first main-event fight against top fighter Kenny Florian at UFC Fight Night: Florian vs Lauzon. Florian was the favorite heading in and sure enough he prevailed over Lauzon.

Despite that, Lauzon showed promise and gave Florian a tough fight. He bounced back from the loss and won two straight against Kyle Bradley and Jeremy Stephens.

Now that Lauzon'ss back, it's time to look ahead.

At UFC 108, he looks to resume his rise to the top against a battle-tested Sam Stout. Lauzon will likely benefit from a much better ground game against Stout on Saturday. His BJJ skills are very good and his stand-up skills are improving with time.

At only 25 years old, the sky is the limit for Joe Lauzon.

The question is, does he have the skills to battle the top guys in the division?

Joe is a talented fighter with huge heart and alot of skills. His only big test to date was against Kenny Florian and even though he lost, he looked good when taking into account it was his first main event fight. 

His fight against Stout will give us a good idea as to what direction Lauzon is headed, but it's safe to say that he has the right mentality & tools to be a major player in the UFC lightweight division.

Be sure not to miss Joe's return at UFC 108. It should be a very entertaining fight between two young and dynamic fighters looking to start out 2010 with a much needed win.