When speaking to Ariel Helwani on Monday, Joe Lauzon went public with his concerns about the fight wear of his opponent at UFC 123, George Sotiropolos. He told Helwani that “I don’t see how you can wear your regular fight shorts, compression shorts under that that go to your knee, then wear knee pads on both sides that go halfway down your leg, then ankle supports that go halfway up your leg and down to your toes”.
The veiled accusation behind such comments was that Sotiropoulos is stretching the rules to maximize the friction generated between his legs and his opponent’s body during grappling exchanges. This would obviously be to the advantage of the skilled grappler from Australia. Lauzon isn’t the first fighter to make such accusations, with Kurt Pellegrino going as far as to call Sotiropoulos a ‘cheater’ over the issue. Despite his concerns, Lauzon is unsure whether he’ll push for the commission to force Sotiropoulos to change his fight wear saying that “I don’t know if it will make a huge difference, but at the same time, why give him that advantage? Maybe we’ll make a formal request to not let him wear them.”