Written by Thomas Gerbasi, UFC.com

The first time Joe Lauzon was in a UFC main event, last April against Kenny Florian, he admitted that he got a bit unnerved by his headlining status. Saturday night at the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida, there were no such nerves as “J-Lau” used a varied attack before submitting Jeremy Stephens in the second round of the UFC Fight Night main event.
By Thomas Gerbasi

The first time Joe Lauzon was in a UFC main event, last April against Kenny Florian, he admitted that he got a bit unnerved by his headlining status. Saturday night at the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida, there were no such nerves as “J-Lau” used a varied attack before submitting Jeremy Stephens in the second round of the UFC Fight Night main event.

It was Lauzon’s second win since losing to Florian last year, with both tonight’s bout and his TKO of Kyle Bradley last September ending in the second round.

Lauzon wasted no time taking the bout to the mat, and even though Stephens made it back to his feet rather quickly, Lauzon kept his foe locked up, and he fired away from close range before dropping to the mat for a leg lock attempt. Stephens got out of it quickly, but was sent right back to the canvas moments later. This time, Lauzon worked his ground and pound attack, and with two minutes left, he moved into the mount position before trying for an armbar. Again, Stephens escaped, and he pushed Lauzon into the fence, where he could fire off his own ground strikes as the clock ticked down. The two stood in the final 30 seconds, with Stephens finishing the round off with a hard slam.

Stephens, who was a late replacement for the injured Hermes Franca, opened the second throwing bombs, but Lauzon was able to fight his way inside, and with a fireman’s carry takedown, he put the fight back in his realm on the mat. Lauzon quickly moved to side control, and midway through the round, he got full mount before taking Stephens’ back. At the three minute mark, Stephens broke loose and got into Lauzon’s guard. While there, he bulled Lauzon into the fence and opened a cut on the New Englander’s forehead. Lauzon kept battling though, and as he got into the mount position again, he went hard for the finish and got it, submitting Stephens with an armbar at 4:43 of the second round.

“I knew we were getting close to the end of the round so I was trying and trying, and I got the stoppage,” said Lauzon.

With the win, Lauzon improves to 17-4; Stephens falls to 16-4.