Ricardo Lamas: My Sparring Partner Is Faster & Hits Harder Than Jose Aldo

We haven’t witnessed number two-ranked UFC featherweight contender Ricardo Lamas fight for quite some time now. “The Bully” was last seen dismantling Erik Koch at last January’s UFC on FOX 6, earning him a shot at number five-ranked Chan Sung Jung at UFC 162.

However, “Korean Zombie” quickly replaced Anthony Pettis against 145-pound champion Jose Aldo in the main event of UFC 163 when “Showtime” was forced out with a knee injury. That left Lamas without an opponent, but he decided to wait for what he felt was a very deserved title shot at Aldo.

And he’ll get that shot at this Saturday’s UFC 169 from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Long wait or not, it will all pay off for Lamas if he can somehow end Aldo’s dominant 16-fight win streak. With a four straight victories of his own, Lamas appeared on last night’s “UFC Tonight” to detail how he hasn’t really taken that much time off:

“Well, you know, I haven’t been injured, so I’ve been in the gym every single day training. I had a full camp over the summer, I was scheduled to fight ‘The Korean Zombie,’ but my fight got cancelled last minute, so it’s not like I’ve been sitting around stagnant and not been doing anything, I’ve been in the gym and I’ve been putting in the work.”

Lamas makes a good point when he stresses that he hasn’t been injured, but ring rust has proven to be a very real phenomenon in MMA, and you simply need all the experience you can get heading into a bout with one of the greatest fighters of all-time. Regardless, Lamas is confident in the system that got him to this point, adding that he trains with a striker he feels is superior to Aldo:

“You know, I’ve kept the same training partners. My main sparring partner was Luis Palomino. He fights for WSOF. In my opinion, he’s faster and he hits harder than Jose Aldo. So, I’ve been doing a lot of sparring with him, we’ve been breaking down film of Jose Aldo, and coming up with, you know, little things here and there that we’ve seen, and it’s time to implement all that on Saturday.”

Finding weaknesses in Aldo’s game on film and actually capitalizing on them inside the Octagon are two completely different things, however. No one has been quite able to solve that puzzle in the UFC as of yet. Lamas has an extremely aggressive, wrestling-centered style that he believes will be paramount to scoring the huge upset in Newark:

“Pressure is gonna be one of my main points in this fight. You know, I have to stay in his face; I have to keep going forward, because when you back up, you’re pretty much a moving target for him. So, pressure is going to be huge.”

Indeed pressure will be huge because he can’t let Aldo find his groove and begin peppering him with his lethal low kicks. If “Junior” does, Lamas’ takedown attempts will become increasingly less effective as the fight goes on.

The only way Lamas can notch the monumental upset is getting in Aldo’s face early and making this a dogfight. “The Bully” always shows up in great shape, so if he can drag this bout into the later rounds, he may have an edge over Aldo, who has been known to tire from his massive weight cuts.

But even that gameplan could have him staring up at the lights. The odds have Lamas as nearly a 6-to-1 underdog. Do you think he has any chance of dethroning the longtime featherweight king?

Photo: David Banks for USA TODAY Sports