Tapout’s Portrayal of Dan Lauzon Was Wrong

Umm i wanna ask.. What is up with mask and his friend.. Not punkass but the other one.. Ive watched the show a couple of times. Are they just there for ratings or do they do anything for the sport?

Well I don’t think there’s any question that they are in things to help the sport. They’ve been around since the early-to-mid 90’s sponsoring fighters and helping out with events. They’ve done many a favor for the UFC over the years, especially when they were struggling - Ex. You ever see the UFC video game covers and notice how it’s always the same guy getting elbowed or kneed in the face? That’s Mask without his makeup and legend has it that he actually did those covers for free.

I hear what you are saying John.  The editing really did Dan’s trainers no justice.  But ultimately, I think they are right, LOL.

You bring up Joe Lauzon as an example.  If I remember correctly, the boxing coach Steven Maze said he had only been training Dan for 2 years.  So I’m not sure Joe ever trained under Maze.  Even if he did, it was pretty obvious that the guy may know his stuff boxing wise but has no clue when it comes to kicks or other areas of MMA.  When he asked Dan to sprawl after a combo, Dan gave him a look like “What?”.  To me it showed maybe the coach was trying to mix things up only because the cameras were rolling and that he had never done that before.  Not that there is anything wrong with that.  In fact, I think the BJJ coach should have changed the class up to make Dan look better for the show.  Instead, he incorporated him into a basic level class.  As painful as it might seem, that’s not in Dan’s best interests. 

Sure, Joe Lauzon came from these same humble roots, but now where is he?  In Hilo training under BJ Penn in a legit MMA camp.  The old saying in the amateur wrestling world says you will only get better with practice partners that are better than you.  The same can be said in MMA.

For the Tapout guys, they are looking to sponsor a guy where they throw him $5-10,000 a fight when he’s in a big show, $3-6,000 for a each small show.  By helping him hookup with a great team like Sityodtong, they are looking to protect their potential investment.  Was it right for them to so openly disparage his current trainers and partners?  Probably not.  But would it be in Dan and Tapout’s best interest for Dan to move to Sityodtong?  Absolutely.

Is there a limit to how many fights you can be in. Or does just take a long time to get them set up? Not including injuries and so forth.?

(Thanks john from above)

John, Bill and MASK are right, he NEEDS a better camp. Dan Lauzon is definitely a diamond in the rough, but to make a diamond sparkile BRILLIANTLY it must be shaped by masters. Mark Dellagrotte is a master. All MASK AND DANA want is the kid to reach his potential, yes, for MUTUALLY beneficial resons, obviously…, but also because you can see that he’s a real good kid, with a super family. Several times, MASK said “I don’t want to disrespect his camp; trainers; training partners, BUT…”. Maze seems like super guy, and a great trainer in his own right, but the reality is , without MUCH better all around training, if he gets another shot at the OCTAGON, the second result will echo the first….(and he should have/would have HANDLED that dude from CT., as opposed to almost blowing a couple times…)

Perhaps the negative publicity for the gym is to help boost ratings. Sort of like, even though he is not properly trained he still comes out as a winner.

I know I’m posting this late, but I watched that show and the next morning at work we were talking about the very same thing.  I dont know why the did it like that.  It wasn’t right, I’m sure when Dan’s camp saw that they wern’t happy.