Sherdog’s Top 10: Deceptively Dangerous

8. Joe Lauzon

Lauzon is not your typical mixed martial artist. Before he shocked the world by knocking out Jens Pulver in his UFC debut, Lauzon was a full-time network administrator at Charles River Analytics in Cambridge, Mass., and a part-time fighter. In other words, Lauzon is just as capable of presiding over a Geek Squad powwow at Best Buy as he is of choking out someone in a grappling session. A computer science major at the Wentworth Institute of Technology, “J-Lau” did not begin training martial arts until he was a junior in high school.

Inside the cage, Lauzon does not perform like an introverted cubicle dweller. The 27-year-old’s aggressive style has earned him seven post-fight bonuses in just 12 UFC appearances. His most recent bonus came in unexpected fashion, as he rocked Melvin Guillard on the feet before finishing him with a rear-naked choke to earn “Submission of the Night” honors at UFC 136. His most recognized nickname of “J-Lau” is one of the worst in MMA today, but he prefers that to “Creepy Joe,” a moniker given to him by B.J. Penn during Season 5 of “The Ultimate Fighter.” Based on facial features alone, Lauzon seems to fit better in a high school yearbook than a cage. “The only part of him that isn’t really athletic is his face,” Urijah Faber once told Yahoo Sports.

The Bridgewater, Mass., native has always made it clear he has other interests outside of fighting. While his Twitter account might be filled with numerous video game references, his game inside the Octagon is all-out action, all the time.

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