Joe Lauzon is man. I have recently been conducting his warwagon. His subs have always kept me interested in him, but it wasn't until his fight with George Sotiropoulos that he really started to grow on me. Joe went in as a sizable 'dog. I had a bet on G-Sot. In the opening frame, Lauzon caught my attention as he started putting a beating on George standing. The round ended, George took down a gassed Lauzon, and got the sub for the win. My money was saved, Sotiropoulos got a big win, but I walked away with some new found respect for Mr. Lauzon for making me sweat a bit. Not long after came the Guillard upset, which was hilarious and incredible. His fight with Varner is my personal favorite for Fight of the Year.

The point is: I've become a huge Lauzon fan. Seeing all of these people giving him love after his fight with Miller makes me really fucking happy for the guy. He's never been able to rattle off a big enough series of wins, but the UFC is damn lucky to have a fighter they can count on to deliver no matter when they book him. I saw quite a few "This fight saved this card" statements following the conclusion. Joe Lauzon got a loss on his record, but made himself a metric fuckton of new fans, made a cool 70k for Fight of the Night, and is now in a great position for big featured bouts because the UFC knows they can rely on him to do something awesome. Personally I think he should be either co-maining or opening a Fox card.

Now we get on with it: I'd like to hear some of your favorite losses. Where a fighter got that L, but left the Octagon with more respect than when they entered.

Immediate thoughts:

Shogun Rua's "loss" to Dan Henderson- Shogun won that fight. It was the greatest thing I've ever seen. I do not need the opinions of three people sitting ringside to know that nobody lost that fight, but Shogun won it. Best fight of all time. The thing that makes the fight for me is the fact that Shogun took bombs from Hendo that nobody has ever taken. He took them, didn't get knocked out, then recovered enough to put a beating on Dan himself.

Stephen Bonnar's loss to Forrest Griffin- Bonnar didn't exactly have the best UFC career, but this one fight made him one of the most known fighters ever. With that popularity comes money and job security. A fifteen minute battle set this man for life.

Carlos Condit's loss to GSP- Condit almost finished the Champ, my heart almost burst through my chest with nervousness, and Condit came out looking awesome for being able to put the first dent into GSP in years. Immediate big fights along with getting a ton of respect for that showing makes this an easy one.

Frankie Edgar's second loss to Benson Henderson- Simply from the fact that he lost but many people thought he won, which allows a huge fight against Jose Aldo to happen without it really losing much luster.

What says you, BE? What are your favorite or most impressive losses?