(Joe Lauzon, pictured here with his spirit animal.  Photo courtesy of MySpace.)

Judging by his feud with Hermes Franca on the UG, Joe Lauzon is a nice enough guy until you say something about his brother.  That’s a line you probably shouldn’t cross with him apparently, and once you do you’ve made yourself an instant enemy.

In our exclusive interview Lauzon talks about how the bad blood erupted on the UG, just how pissed off he really was, and what he thinks of Jeremy Stephens’ plan to break his will at UFC Fight Night 17 this Saturday.

CagePotato.com: So how serious was this beef with Hermes Franca?

It was serious on my end.  I take it personally when he comes at my brother like that.  Basically, he hurt his knee and couldn’t fight, so I said how sorry I was to hear it, hope he heals up, best of luck, all that, and maybe we can fight somewhere down the line.  

And then he starts calling me “the luckiest motherfucker alive,” saying that after he saw how much my brother sucks he couldn’t wait to fight me, stuff that’s just completely uncalled for.  I’m saying, ‘sorry to hear about your knee,’ and he’s saying, ‘you suck.’  That’s just complete trash.

Do you think he might have been joking, like a lot of people suggested?

I don’t think so.  He called me the luckiest motherfucker alive.  I just ignored that, whatever.  I signed my post Joe “The Luckiest Motherfucker Alive” Lauzon, and let it go.  I didn’t say anything after that.  Totally let it go.  Then he comes back talking about how much my brother sucks, and it wasn’t a joking kind of thing.  If you’re joking, you don’t say stuff about someone’s family like that, just so direct.  That’s just not something you do.  

(Stephens works for a guillotine against Spencer Fisher at the TUF 7 Finale.)

On Saturday night, Des Moines, Iowa’s Jeremy Stephens will step in to the Octagon to take the place of his friend and training partner, Hermes Franca, in a main event bout against Joe Lauzon.  Things got personal between Franca and Lauzon in an internet forum feud, so it seems only fitting that a friend of Franca be the one to replace him in an attempt to win bragging rights for his side.

In our exclusive interview Stephens talks about what this fight means, how it will be won, and what’s next for the “Lil’ Heathen” in the UFC.

CagePotato.com: You’re stepping in for Hermes Franca on somewhat short notice, but you were training with him to help him prepare for Lauzon, right?

Yeah.  I was down in South Beach training with him, and in Ft. Lauderdale, as well.  I travel a lot to train.

How did you guys get hooked up?  And is that why the UFC asked you to step in for him, because you guys were training partners?

No, we have the same manager.  My manager, when he mentioned that he had Hermes, I said, ‘He’s a great fighter.  I’d love to train with him.’  And when he told Hermes that he had signed me, Hermes said he had a fight coming up and he was going out to San Diego to train and since I had a fight coming up too we connected out there and started training together.  

But when he got hurt I actually called up my manager, Reed Wallace, and requested the fight with Joe Lauzon.

Did it have anything to do with the little feud that erupted between Joe and Hermes on the UG?