BOSTON – UFC lightweight Joe Lauzon still doesn’t know when he’ll be healthy enough to return to the octagon, but wants a fight with Diego Sanchez when he’s ready.

Lauzon suffered a hand injury prior to a decision loss to Evan Dunham this past month at The Ultimate Fighter 22 Finale. That isn’t stopping him from talking up his next fight, which he’s “itching” to get after his recent setback.

“I think that would be a really exciting fight,” Lauzon told MMAjunkie backstage at Sunday’s UFC Fight Night 81 event at Boston’s TD Garden.

Lauzon (25-11 MMA, 12-8 UFC) and Sanchez (25-8 MMA, 14-8 UFC) were previously linked to meet in June 2014 at UFC 180 before a separate injury forced Lauzon to withdraw. Sanchez was subsequently pulled from the event and then announced a bid for the featherweight title, specifically a fight with then-contender Conor McGregor. The move instead got him onetime title challenger Ricardo Lamas, who defeated him in a one-sided fight this past November at UFC Fight Night 78.

Earlier this month, Sanchez conceded biting off more than he could chew by dropping so much weight and announced he will continue his UFC career at lightweight.

That’s good news for Lauzon, who thinks he could be ready by late April or May if all goes well with his hand.

“It really comes down to time,” he said. “In my last fight, I didn’t get to put in the best last couple of weeks, so going forward, I want to make sure my hand’s 100 percent. I don’t want to rush things.”

Get Lauzon’s thoughts on a meeting with Sanchez and the losses he’d like to get back in the UFC in the above video.

And for more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.