Joe Lauzon Thinks Guillard's Overconfidence Led To His Victory

Joe Lauzon was considered to be a massive underdog against the surging Melvin Guillard, but you'd never know it by his performance last night. Lauzon cracked an overconfident Guillard early on and then swarmed him, taking his back and sinking the rear naked choke to force the finish under a minute into the first round. The finish earned Lauzon Submission of the Night honors and the Massachusetts native feels that it came about in part due to Guillard's overconfidence.

"He was at the expo today. I was back in the hotel room taking it easy and relaxing because I knew I had to attend to business tonight," said Lauzon, explaining the differences in their pre-fight attitudes. "I definitely think he was overlooking the whole entire thing. He was definitely looking past me. But I like being in that position. I hope everyone overlooks me like that."

Lauzon overcame lopsided odds to take home the $75,000 submission bonus and greatly improved his stock in the lightweight division as a result, but, in his opinion, the win still doesn't rank as the best in the 27-year-old's career. That spot is reserved for his UFC 118 thumping of Gabe Ruediger, which took place in his backyard of Beantown.

"I think Boston. Fighting in Boston in front of my hometown crowd and the fight that I was able to put on really was number one," he said. "But this is definitely number two. It's right behind it."

Mark Wayne is the head writer for FightLine.com. He can be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/_MarkWayne.