Ricardo Lamas is confident in his ground game.
The UFC veteran feels good about his grappling skills ahead of his featherweight clash with jiu-jitsu specialist Ryan Hall at UFC on ESPN+ 34. The event is set to go down Aug. 29 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Lamas (19-8 MMA, 10-6 UFC) understands Hall is a dangerous opponent but thinks his ground game can hold up against Hall’s. After all, he owns a jiu-jitsu black belt and five submission wins in MMA.
“It’s a regular part of my training,” Lamas told MMA Junkie Radio. “I do it all the time when I’m down in Miami and I’m doing one-on-one sessions with Daniel Valverde, who’s one of the best practitioners in the world when it comes to BJJ, especially in the no-GI.
So I’m very confident in my game, and I think I’ve shown my BJJ can hold up with the best out there. In the recent years, I submitted the guy (Charles Oliveira) who has the most submissions in the history of the UFC. So I hope he doesn’t underestimate my ground game.”
Lamas, 38, said he planned on going down to Miami for the final stage of his preparation. Apart from his ground work, Lamas feels strong entering the bout, as he had a better camp this time around than the first time he was supposed to fight Ryan Hall back in May.
“That was a tough time. I was booked to fight Ryan Hall, and obviously the event got canceled, and we had to postpone it,” Lamas said. “They rebooked it for the end of August, so back then it was worse because I wasn’t coming into contact with anybody besides the person that was putting me through strength and conditioning, which was my business partner in the gym.
“But besides that, I was pretty much training by myself, hitting the heavy bag, lifting, running, and doing conditioning to get into fight shape. But now it’s better because I’m able to train with people all the time.”
Ricardo Lamas hopes Ryan Hall 'doesn't underestimate' ground game at UFC on ESPN+ 34
