Gabe Ruediger brushes off weight-cutting jokes, plans quick finish at UFC 126
The good far outweighed the bad when Gabe Ruediger made the decision to fight his Joe Lauzon, a former castmate on "The Ultimate Fighter 5," at UFC 118.
It was his opportunity to fight in the UFC again for the first time in roughly four years. It also was a nice paycheck for Ruediger, who next fights at Saturday's UFC 126 event.
Conversely, the UFC 118 fight had to be arranged at the last minute after Terry Etim pulled out due to injury. It also essentially took place in the backyard of Lauzon, who is from the Boston area.
Not surprisingly, TD Garden Arena spectators didn't exactly welcome Ruediger with open arms.
"I'm a firm believer in energy and negative energy makes for a negative performance," Ruediger recently told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). "It is true when the cage closes you've only got one thing to do, and that's to fight, but [crowd noise] plays into it. It's always unfortunate when you have people booing you and saying negative things."
Once the bout commenced, it quickly was clear Lauzon was out to prove a point and put on a good show in front of his friends and family. He dominated in all aspects of the fight before securing a first-round submission victory via armbar.
Regardless of the locale, it was not a good performance by Ruediger (17-6 MMA, 0-2 UFC) any way you look at it.
Fast forward to present day, and the former WEC lightweight champion still is seeking that elusive first victory under the UFC banner.
After pulling out of a potential fight with Paul Kelly at UFC 123 due to injury, Ruediger now faces Paul Taylor on the untelevised preliminary card of UFC 126, which takes place Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.
Taylor (10-6-1 MMA, 3-5 UFC) is coming off of a controversial decision loss to Sam Stout at UFC 121 in his debut at the 155-pound limit.
Like Ruediger, the former welterweight is in desperate need of a victory.
Taylor is known to want to push the pace and throw caution to the wind. He's already racked up three "Fight of the Night" bonuses in his UFC career.
"I have to worry about what I'm going to do," Ruediger said. "If I fight someone that fights to decision and I have to go three rounds, I'll go three rounds. I'm very well prepared for three rounds, but that's not my fight style. My fight style is (to) finish the fight. That's what I do."
"I don't get paid for overtime. I get paid the same for 15 seconds as I would for 15 minutes. I want to just get paid, and also right now, my fight is not televised. I have to make it short to make sure they put it in there."
One thing he can control with certainty is making weight for the fight.
Ruediger has taken some flack over the years from fans and media following his expulsion from "TUF 5" for not making weight for a bout with Corey Hill.
It's a stigma that has followed him around to a certain degree.
"It is what it is," he said. "I laugh about it now. It's actually never been an issue for my professional career. For an unsanctioned bout on a reality TV show it was an issue, but I've never not made weight for
