The UFC announced yesterday that former featherweight title challenger Ricardo Lamas will jump back into the Octagon against Hacran Dias on the June 28 UFC Fight night card in San Antonio. The fight will be Lamas? first since losing a decision to champion Jose Aldo at UFC 169 last February.
That bout saw Lamas take Aldo?s big shots and keep coming forward, ultimately ending the fight with momentum, but also with time having run out on his championship hopes, at least for the time being. The Chicago-area native kept his normal post-fight routine after the loss to Aldo and was back in the gym just a couple days afterwards.
?I was back in the gym the Tuesday after the fight,? Lamas tells Cagewriter.
?Basically, there was no time off. I got back in there ? which is what I normally do, regardless of whether I win or lose.?
Lamas was frustrated with his performance against Aldo, and wanted to get right back into the cage and the featherweight mix ? which has led to his showdown with Dias in June.
?We asked for a couple guys that the UFC just straight out said ?no? to. They said they wanted to match me with someone who is on the same path. I don?t know what that means. Dias actually wasn?t on my radar before that but he was the only guy available,? Lamas admits.
?I didn?t want to wait around until the end of summer for ?Korean Zombie,? or someone like that so I just decided to get in there as soon as possible because I also want to try and get on that Mexico card in November.?
Lamas feels that he fought to cautiously against Aldo and is eager to never make that mistake again. ?I didn?t fight like myself,? he says.
?I was very tentative?I think I overanalyzed things a bit. I also think I expected him to come out more aggressively in the beginning so when he didn?t, I thought too much. I think it was a combination of all those things.?
Frustrations aside, Lamas says that the positive is that he learned a lot in his five round battle for the title with Aldo. ?I don?t look at a loss as a loss,? he says.
?I look at it as a learning experience. Basically, I learned not to fight like that ever again.?
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