Ricardo Lamas hasn’t dodged fights, and he doesn’t plan to start anytime soon.
The former UFC title challenger was booked for a return at the UFC’s event in Oklahoma City on May 2, but the card was postponed due to temporary closing of non-essential businesses and COVID-19 restrictions in the state. Lamas (19-8 MMA, 10-6 UFC) was set to take on Ryan Hall – a jiu-jitsu specialist who’s had a difficult time getting fights due to his unique and dangerous skillset.
It might seem for many a difficult decision to sign a contract to fight Hall, but for Lamas it was pretty simple.
“We were talking to the UFC, they let us know the options they had, and Ryan Hall was the highest ranked opponent, so that was basically it,” Lamas told MMA Junkie. “No big back story to it.
“This is the fight game. To me, I don’t care who the opponent is, I’m just trying to move back up the ranks. I do see what everyone else sees, and he’s a dangerous opponent, but so is everybody.
“Everybody has their own little specialties they bring to the game, and if you start avoiding people because they’re good at this or good at that, then you’re just going to sit around and not fight at all.”
Lamas, who’s earned multiple submission finishes in the UFC, is aware of the challenges Hall presents but said he is unfazed by them.
“I’m not scared of Ryan Hall,” Lamas said. “I’m not scared of his jiu-jitsu. I’m not underestimating him; I know how tricky it is and how annoying it is to fight him because I’ve seen his fights. I was preparing for that.
“I was literally preparing myself to fight him. I was going to the gym alone. I was basically lifting, running, doing cardio, and having one of my partners in the gym put me through conditioning – because I didn’t want to put myself through conditioning, I’d rather have someone there to do it, and we were still keeping the six-feet rule while in the gym.
“So I was ready to go, and then the night before they announced the postponement of UFC 249, we were constantly in contact with the UFC just to get a final word if the event was going to happen. We kept getting, ‘As of now, yes. As of now, yes.’ And the night before the postponement, they told me Ryan pulled out of the fight and they didn’t give me a reason why, and still waiting to hear on that. So he’s been having a lot of trouble finding a fight, he got one, and then he pulled out, so I don’t know what to say about that.”
The 37-year-old veteran hasn’t received an update from the UFC regarding his fight with Hall. He’s unsure if the bout is still on the table, but he hopes it gets rebooked for a later date.
“As soon as things go back to normal, I want to book a fight and fight as soon as possible,” Lamas said. “I really, I was doing it, but that’s because I signed a contract before this whole COVID-19 started happening and before the sheltering was put in place. I signed the contract to fight, and when I tell someone I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it no matter what the circumstances are.
“That’s why I was going and training literally by myself. I was the only one at the gym most of the days. I was ready to fight, but given the choice, I’d like to have a normal camp just like everyone else. I want to restart and get a normal camp and get prepared the right way for a guy like Ryan Hall.”
While some might see the Hall bout as a risky situation, Lamas sees it as an opportunity to make a statement and remind people he’s still one of the best 145-pound fighters on the planet.
“That’s part of what intrigued me about the fight, too, it was kind of like the whole talk around him, everyone thinking how good he is, and I kind of want to see it for myself,” Lamas explained. “I’m definitely not scared of taking on challenges like that. Charles Oliveira was another great, great grappling guy I went against – you know, most submissions in UFC history – and I ended submitting him. So I’d like to go in there and try to surprise everyone.”
To hear the full interview with Lamas, check out the video below.
Ricardo Lamas hopes Ryan Hall bout gets rebooked: 'I'm not scared of his jiu-jitsu'