Ricardo Lamas has had a long and storied career in the UFC and in the sport of MMA. The WEC veteran fought for over 12 years. He's competed against some of the biggest names at featherweight including Max Holloway and Jose Aldo.
He's fought all over the world and competed against the best featherweights the sport had to over. His time in the UFC really allowed him to experience different places.
When he sits down to think about it, Ricardo Lamas has a very specific thing he takes away from his career. It's not even about the fights themselves.
“Just all the experiences that I had, you know, I was able to travel, I was able to go to places that I probably never would have been able to go to had it not been for my opportunity in the UFC,” Lamas told ClutchPoints. “I got to travel across the world. I got to fight in Mexico a few times, which is where my mother's from, I got to fight in her hometown one time. I think maybe when I was real little I went to Mexico, but I don't even think we went to my mom's hometown. We went to Mexico, though, but I had never been there before. So it was very nice to kind of see stuff like that. I got to meet family of mine that I've never met before, kind of distant family on my mom's side. So just kind of experiences like that, that MMA gave me the opportunity to have that I wouldn't have had otherwise.”
Ricardo Lamas has had a lot of moments in his career that have made him proud. UFC 199 where he and Max Holloway agreed to finish out the fight by swinging for the fences was a big one.
Fighting for the UFC featherweight championship against Jose Aldo was a big one also. The Brazilian is largely considered the greatest featherweight of all time.
“Yeah that Max Holloway moment is one of them. There's a lot of little ones. My first fight in my hometown in the UFC against Erich Koch, you know, he was a number one contender at the time, it was kind of the fight that earned me my title shot. And it was the first time that all my family and friends were able to go to the event and see me perform at the highest level. Fighting in my mom's hometown in Monterrey, Mexico against Diego Sanchez, who was like a legend in the sport. Just a lot of little surreal moments where I had to sit back and be like, wow, this is actually really happening. It's hard to pick one, fighting for the title is another one. It was on Superbowl weekend in New Jersey, fighting against a legend Jose Aldo, and just kind of making it to the pinnacle of the sport, even though I fell short that night. It's still a memory that I hold dear to my heart and will never forget. There's lots of little things like that throughout my career that I'll never forget.”
Walking away from the UFC was not an easy decision for Ricardo Lamas. Many factors went into the decision including how much time he was able to spend with his family.
“The last couple years of my fights, it was something that I was kind of wrestling with. When I started fighting, I wasn't married, I didn't have a family. I didn't have kids. I went through a lot of life changes during my career in MMA. I got married, I had children. I would train out of town. So I live in Illinois, and train in Florida. As I had kids, and as I had a family. And as my kids got older and some of the camps my wife and my kids would come with me. As they got older, as my son started going to school, they would have to stay back and I'd have to go by myself. So the stress of just going through camp was getting worse and worse every time. It just wasn't enjoyable for me to leave my family behind for a month and go to Florida and train. So I was kind of wrestling with it the last couple of years. But I always wanted to leave my career on a high note. And then in that last fight, it just kind of hit me, getting a win, and getting a ‘fight of the night,' kind of dedicated my fight to the people, and my father struggles. I figured there was no higher note to end it on than that.”
Ricardo Lamas' last fight in the UFC was a win over Bill Algeo in August 2020. The ending was almost perfect considering he won and received ‘Fight of the Night.'
“It was almost perfect. The one thing that would have made it 100% perfect was that if it was in an arena full of people and not, you know, at the Apex with nobody there watching because of COVID. So, but, you know, I think if we're trying to chase that perfect ending, it's not going to happen. It's the too many variables. And I think you're never going to be satisfied with with the way you left it. 100% But I could say that I'm like, 95% satisfied with the way I left it.”
Ricardo Lamas leaves MMA and the UFC with a great legacy as a man that was willing to fight everybody. He fought for the UFC title and put on many fun brawls.
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