Veteran lightweight Joe Lauzon considers himself a responsible person as well as a professional MMA fighter. Sometimes, those two don’t mesh.

When Lauzon was knocked out by fellow vet Clay Guida this past November at UFC Fight Night 120, he was suspended 45 days by Virginia’s athletic commission. He’d already made the decision to bench himself.

“I didn’t do anything for a month and a half, two months almost,” Lauzon (27-14 MMA, 14-11 UFC), who next faces Chris Gruetzemacher (13-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC) at UFC 223, told MMAjunkie Radio. “I worked out with (UFC fighters) Calvin Kattar and Rob Font a couple of times. It was kind of lighter sparring, so I get hit a little bit – but not hard.

“But I didn’t do anything – no getting hit in the head at all. That was a big thing. And rest.”

Lauzon has been stopped by strikes on five occasions in his 14-year career. In 2012, he was knocked out cold by a head kick from Anthony Pettis. Against Guida, he said he took a shot behind the ear that robbed him of balance, and then he took an uppercut that sent him to the canvas.

At a time when regulators in every sport are taking a closer look the cumulative effects of sub-concussive blows to the head, Lauzon admits he can’t take a punch like he did when he was 21. But he is adamant that he’s taking proper care of himself outside the cage, and he’s minimizing as much as possible the risks of his chosen profession.

“Resting is so overlooked by guys,” he said. “I hear about guys all the time, whether they’re in the UFC or trying to get to the UFC or whatever, they get knocked out in the gym, or they go down really, really hard. And then a week later, or a couple days later, or the next round, they’re back in there. I think that’s so irresponsible. They have to take better care of themselves.

“For us, we took a month, month-and-a-half. We’re not messing with anything. It sucks sometimes being on the sidelines, and feeling like, ‘Oh, I could train right now.’ But you can’t. You have to give your brain time to rest.”

Although he is far closer to the end of his career than the beginning, Lauzon believes he still can compete and win in the UFC, which is why he’s put off transition to the role of full-time father and gym owner. The fight with Gruetzemacher takes place April 7 at Barclays Arena in Brooklyn, N.Y. The event’s main card airs live on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

“My gym doesn’t make a ton of money because my gym is set up in a way to give me the best training environment,” he said. “When I decide to stop fighting, my gym will make a lot more money because I’ll teach a lot more classes. I don’t want to give my school something right now and have to take it away every time a fight camp pops up.

“They aren’t happy that I gave it to them for three months – they’re pissed when I take it away for two months.”

Lauzon said he makes far more now as a professional fighter than when he started, which is no surprise given his record-tying number of post-fight bonuses. He’s not ready to give up the spot in the UFC he’s now held for 12 years, a staggering length of time considering the average shelf life of octagon competitors.

After he was stopped by Guida, Lauzon received harsh messages from fans who opined he’d lost the ability to take a shot. The way he saw it, he got caught with the right combination, and he went down like anyone would have had they taken the same punishment.

“I’m not delusional and think I’m going to walk through everything like I did when I was 20, 21, but I think I got hit with a perfect shot right behind the ear, right off the bat, and then he hit me with a huge uppercut,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a withering chin or ability to take a punch. I think I just got cracked.”

Now rested, Lauzon is ready to move on and try his luck again.

For more on UFC 223, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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