Joe Lauzon is set for his first Octagon walk since 2019. The long layoff mainly stemmed from his own inner turmoil over potentially retiring.

The last UFC appearance for ‘J-Lau’ was in October 2019. In his hometown of Boston, he dominated and TKO’d Jonathan Pearce to a raucous ovation. Following the bout, UFC president Dana White said that he wanted Lauzon to retire.

The lightweight veteran didn’t officially announce his retirement in the moment. Instead, he would ponder his future over the next few years. Almost three years later, Lauzon is now set to fight fellow bonus king Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone in April.

The decision to take the fight wasn’t an easy one for ‘J-Lau’. He admitted in an interview with MMAJunkie that his decision to take the fight was one that he left to his coaches.

“I had to ask my coaches when they offered the fight, ‘Do we want to fight Cowboy’? They all liked the fight, they all think it’s a good matchup. But then, OK, let’s say Cowboy is out altogether, should I be fighting at all?” – Joe Lauzon told MMAJunkie.

Lauzon continued, “My last fight was awesome. If that were my last fight that’d be a great career and could’ve been the end of it and I would’ve been happy going forward. So if you guys think I shouldn’t fight, then we don’t have to do that. But if you think I should roll the dice one more time, then we can do that too. We decided to take the fight.”

The showdown with ‘Cowboy’ will be the 28th fight in the promotion for Lauzon. ‘J-Lau’ is currently tied for 3rd place for all-time UFC bonuses, sitting only behind Charles Oliveria and Cerrone.

He has the chance to tie the two lightweights on April 30th.

What do you think about Joe Lauzon fighting Cowboy Cerrone?