UFC veteran Joe Lauzon will go up against a less well-known opponent in Chris Gruetzmacher next at UFC 223 in Brookyln, New York on April 7th.
The 33-year-old Lauzon is used to fighting high-profile fighters, but that’s not been working out so well for him over the past few years, with only three wins from his last eight appearances in the Octagon.
During that period he picked up wins over Takanori Gomi, Diego Sanchez and Marcin Held, but also came up short against the likes of Al Iaquinta, Jim Miller and most recently Clay Guida, who TKO’d him in 67 seconds back in November.
As for Gruetzmacher, the 31-year-old arrived in the UFC back in late 2015 with an impressive 12-1 career record up to that point, but so far he’s only mustered a 1-2 record in the Octagon.
He emerged victorious with a win in his UFC debut against Abner Lloveras, but in the past year he’s picked up two submission losses in a row against Chas Skelly and Davi Ramos.
Given that Lauzon also happens to be a submission expert this appears like a fight that’s been lined up to get him back to winning ways, but if Gruetzmacher can upset the applecart and defeat him then that would help put him on the MMA map.
Lauzon Vs Gruetzmacher joins a UFC 223 card that will be headlined by a lightweight title encounter between interim champion Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov, while women’s strawweight champion Rose Namajunas rematches Joanna Jedrzejczyk in the co-main event.
