Joe Lauzon (born May 22, 1984) is a semi-retired American professional mixed martial artist who competed in the UFC's Lightweight division.

Lauzon did not begin training in the martial arts until his junior year at East Bridgewater High School, after seeing a demonstration that piqued his interest.

He worked as a network administrator in Cambridge, Massachusetts before he began training in mixed martial arts full-time.

[4] In 2004, Lauzon had his first cage fight, winning with a first round armbar in a local Massachusetts promotion, Mass Destruction.

Lauzon won an eight-man tournament, defeating three fighters in one night in the World Fighting League and was crowned the WFL Grand Prix Champion.

[12] At UFC 78 Lauzon submitted previously undefeated Jason Reinhardt by rear-naked choke in the first round.

[14] On April 2, 2008, Kenny Florian defeated Lauzon in the main event of UFC Fight Night 13 by TKO via strikes from mount in the second round.

Florian opened the second round with a takedown and soon advanced to mount where he landed multiple unanswered strikes until the fight was waved off.

[17] Lauzon defeated Kyle Bradley by technical knockout in round two at UFC Fight Night 15 on September 17, 2008.

In the second round Lauzon scored a takedown and transitioned quickly into mount before taking Bradley's back.

[21] Lauzon defeated Stephens by armbar in the second round, which earned him a Submission of the Night bonus award.

Lauzon defeated Ruediger, who is a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, via armbar in 2:01 of round one having completely dominated him for the entire fight.

[34] However, Oliveira instead faced Donald Cerrone on August 14, 2011, at UFC Live: Hardy vs. Lytle, replacing an injured Paul Taylor.

[37] Lauzon faced Anthony Pettis on February 26, 2012, at UFC 144[38] He lost the fight by KO due to a head kick in 91 seconds.

[41] In a back-and-forth fight that saw both men rocked, Lauzon secured the victory after locking in a triangle choke on Varner at 2:44 of the third round.

[53] Lauzon was expected to face Diego Sanchez on November 15, 2014, at UFC 180, replacing an injured Norman Parke.

[57] As the first bout of his new eight-fight contract, Lauzon faced Takanori Gomi on July 25, 2015, at UFC on Fox 16.

[65] After sustaining virtually no damage during his previous fight, Lauzon was quickly rescheduled to rematch Jim Miller on August 27, 2016, at UFC on Fox 21.

[69] He was awarded a controversial split decision victory, even stating he felt he lost the bout post-fight.

[80] After another 31-month hiatus, Lauzon was scheduled to face Donald Cerrone on April 30, 2022, at UFC Fight Night 208.

[82] Despite both competitors weighing in, the bout was cancelled the day of the event due to Cerrone falling ill.[83] The pair was rescheduled to meet at UFC on ESPN 37 on June 18, 2022.

[84] The bout was yet again scrapped the day of this event due to Lauzon's knee dislocating and being unable to straighten.

His eldest was diagnosed with stage 4S neuroblastoma a week after he was born, and was finally cleared as cancer-free in early 2019.