Joe Lauzon talks injuries, Al Iaquinta and UFC 183

2014 has seen injury after injury for major UFC stars, resulting in the cancelation or postponement of many anticipated fights. For example, early this month at UFC 180, heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez pulled out of his eagerly awaited fight against Fabricio Werdum in Mexico City.

A little bit further down on the same UFC 180 card, Joe Lauzon (24-9) was tabbed to replace Diego Sanchez's originally scheduled opponent and take on "The Nightmare," until both Lauzon and Sanchez ended up needing to pull out as well, because of injuries sustained in their respective training camps.

No doubt, it is frustrating for fans to go months, and sometimes years without seeing their favorite fighter (in the cases of champs like Velasquez and Dominick Cruz), or without getting to watch a heavily promoted fight, because of injuries to the competitors. However, fight-cancelling injuries are much more than an annoyance to the fighters themselves – they can be near disastrous.

"Injuries are just bad in every way," Lauzon tells FoxSports.

"Emotionally, physically, and financially. Emotionally, you are invested in fighting someone, and you've put a lot of work into it. Training is the hard part. Fighting is the fun part. To go through a camp and then not get to fight is emotionally draining. Physically, pulling out of a fight because of injuries is usually a sign of not just one but several serious injuries. Chances are, when a fighter pulls out of a fight with an injury, it isn't the first injury of that camp. Fighters try to push through injuries, and we get injured every camp. So, if we have to pull out of a fight, it probably means that we're really hurt badly.

"Financially, it's just awful. We only get paid when we fight, even though most of the work happens during training, in the gym, every day. Imagine working for a couple months at your job and then not getting paid. Training for fights doesn't just cost time, it costs money. To do a lot of training and then not get the financial pay off can cause a lot of problems for fighters' lives."

As such, chances are that missing out on UFC 180 was a pretty big set back for both Lauzon and Sanchez. Luckily for Lauzon, he's recovering well from his injuries and just signed on for another fight, at UFC 183 against Al Iaquinta (10-3).

The lightweight star says he and the UFC had originally hoped to simply postpone his engagement with the always exciting Sanchez (25-7). However, as it became apparent that the TUF champion's injuries were more serious than previously thought, Lauzon says the UFC promised that if Sanchez were not available for UFC 183 in late January, that they'd get him another opponent.

"It's great to have a date and opponent, but even just having a date you know you have to train for, is good," he says.

"We were thinking that if it weren't going to be Diego, it would be Al," Lauzon reveals.

"Al just fought as well, he looked great, and so the timing seemed good. So, when we'd do mitts we'd work for a Southpaw and call that Diego. Then, we'd train for a righty and call that Al. Then, [UFC matchmaker] Joe Silva called me [Tuesday] and said that they had Al Iaquinta for me. I said, 'great.'"

Lauzon says that he's studied Iaquinta well because the Serra/Longo fighter was once set to fight his teammate Joe Proctor. "I know Al well, and he's a good guy," the Boston area warrior admits.

"He's also an exciting, great fighter. I'm looking forward to it. The East coast is going to bring it big, that's for sure."