Max Holloway’s point-to-the-canvas UFC 300 moment was deja vu for Ricardo Lamas

You might have someone to thank you wouldn’t expect for that crazy Max Holloway vs. Justin Gaethje result at UFC 300.

If you’re among the masses who thinks the “BMF” title fight earlier this month was one of the greatest fights in history, you might have someone to thank you wouldn’t expect.

When [autotag]Max Holloway[/autotag] (26-7 MMA, 22-7 UFC) pointed to the canvas to invite Justin Gaethje (25-5 MMA, 8-5 UFC) to swing for the fences in the final 10 seconds at UFC 300, it set in motion what will go down as one of the most dramatic moments in MMA history. Holloway, who already was winning the five-round fight on the scorecards, connected with Gaethje and put him out cold – with one second left in their 25-minute fight.

That it was for the “BMF” title, and between a pair of fighters known for getting into proverbial wars, made it all the more perfect. But one of Holloway’s past opponents wants to flip through the history book for a moment.

When [autotag]Ricardo Lamas[/autotag] fought Holloway at UFC 199 nearly eight years ago, Holloway did the same thing. He was up on the scorecards, on his way to a sweep, and he pointed at the floor in the closing seconds and started slinging with Lamas. And that, Lamas says, laid the groundwork for the moment that will be etched in MMA history.

“I just want to say you’re welcome to everyone because I was the one that coaxed that moment out of Max Holloway,” Lamas recently told MMA Junkie Radio. “You can listen to Max talk about it. He actually did an interview with Demetrious Johnson, and even though he threw a little shade at me – but he said he loved me, so it’s OK; I love you, too, Max – he was saying that in the third round of our fight, I kept waving him in and waving him in. And then finally in the last 10 seconds, that’s why he decided to point to the ground and give me that chance to duke it out.

“But he made it seem like I did that because I didn’t think we were really fighting. I knew I was down on the scorecards. I knew I was losing that fight. And in my head, in the last half of that third round, I’m like, listen, only chance I’ve got right now is to kind of coax him into a brawl and hopefully I catch him with something, which is what he did to Gaethje. That’s what I was hoping for, but it didn’t work out.”

That win for Holloway was his ninth straight. It led him to an interim featherweight title fight with Anthony Pettis later in 2016, which he won. The next year, he unified the 145-pound title when he knocked out Jose Aldo, and when he beat him again in a rematch he became at the time arguably the best featherweight of all time.

And not that Lamas thinks Holloway wouldn’t have gotten there absent their closing 10 seconds in 2016, but he’s not sure why it doesn’t happen more often.

“We created that epic moment and it took – let’s see, that was 199, so it took 101 UFC pay-per-views to recreate it,” Lamas said. “But they finally did it, and he did the perfect ending to it. I couldn’t think of any better ending to a fight for the ‘BMF’ title than what happened.”

Lamas said a situation like the one he got into with Holloway led to an interesting sensation in the fight, as well.

“It’s definite tunnel vision,” he said. “I didn’t hear the crowd till after, like when we’re done in the end. The bell rang, the crowd kind of erupted, but it’s definitely tunnel vision and there’s not much going through my head except for, ‘I hope I don’t fall down and I hope my punch lands.’

“… I’ll be waiting patiently for my 10 percent finder’s fee for creating that moment with Max. So Max, if you need my address, just hit me up in the DMs and I’ll send it to you.”

Holloway won a Performance of the Night bonus, as well as Fight of the Night, at the historic UFC 300 – on a show at which the bonuses were raised to a symbolic $300,000 each instead of $50,000. His $600,000 in bonuses in one night took him well over the $1 million mark in bonus money in his UFC career.

Lamas had three bonuses in his UFC career, including one for a submission of future lightweight champion Charles Oliveira in his bounce-back from his loss to Holloway. Lamas retired after a 2020 win over Bill Algeo.

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MMA Junkie Radio #3455: Guest Ricardo Lamas, PFL preview, UFC news and more

Check out the latest episode of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze.”


Thursday’s edition of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze” is here.

On Episode 3,455, the lads bring on longtime Junkie Radio guest [autotag]Ricardo Lamas[/autotag]. They also previewed the PFL’s final event of the first half of the season, looked ahead to upcoming cards, discussed the latest UFC news and much more. Tune in!

MMA Junkie Radio at Joint Base Langley-Eustis: A weekend with the troops

Dan Henderson, Ricardo Lamas, “King Mo,” Luis Palomino, and Erick Nicksick joined George and “Goze” on the military base in Virginia,

Thursday is an important day for Americans as we celebrate Veterans Day. Every year we honor those men and women who have served our country across the five military branches.

One week ago, Goze and I traveled to Virginia to visit troops. This was our eighth military morale trip overall and our seventh to Joint Base Langley-Eustis. JBLE is actually two bases: Langley Air Base (Air Force) and Fort Eustis (Army). Though we spent most of our time on Fort Eustis, we did drop by Langley Air Base, too.

On each of our trips, we’ve taken many MMA fighters/notables. This trip’s guest list: Dan Henderson, Muhammed Lawal, Ricardo Lamas, Luis Palomino, and Xtreme Couture coach Eric Nicksick.

Here’s a recap of our trip …

MMA unpopular opinions, Vol. 1: The Beatles, ‘Die Hard,’ pineapple pizza, and more!

A collection of MMA fighters and personalities share their unpopular opinions that are sure to make you feel a certain way.

Everyone has their unpopular opinions. You have yours, and so do MMA fighters and personalities.

So we asked about them.

Check out the video below to hear from [autotag]Ben Askren[/autotag], [autotag]Ian Heinisch[/autotag], [autotag]Casey Kenney[/autotag], [autotag]Ricardo Lamas[/autotag], [autotag]Julian Marquez[/autotag], [autotag]Gina Mazany[/autotag], [autotag]Brandon Royval[/autotag], and Laura Sanko as they give their takes unpopular opinions on The Beatles, “Die Hard” as a Christmas movie, pineapple pizza, the Paul brothers, Thanksgiving food, and more. You’re bound to feel a certain way.

Watch:

[mm-video type=video id=01f13kt7jvsjjnxntn playlist_id=01eqvpne7c1q486dvv player_id=01eqvpqbw4ymnv0rjh image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01f13kt7jvsjjnxntn/01f13kt7jvsjjnxntn-e9d8297b35207fa1cf6ff871ce3f920f.jpg]

Got an opinion on these unpopular opinions or one of your own? Discuss in the comments!

The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.

Hablemos MMA #8: Entrevista con Artem Lobov, resumen de UFC Vegas 10, noticias, y más

Escucha el episodio 8 de Hablemos MMA con Artem Lobov.

(Editor’s note: Hablemos MMA is MMA Junkie’s weekly Spanish-language podcast hosted by reporter Danny Segura. New episodes are released every Monday on Apple PodcastsSpotify, and more of your favorite podcasting platforms. You can also stream or download the latest episode here.)

En el episodio 8 de Hablemos MMA, Danny Segura entrevista a [autotag]Artem Lobov[/autotag] acerca de su futuro en MMA y boxeo a puño limpio, sus momentos favoritos de su carrera en UFC, como aprendió español, y mucho más.

También analizamos los resultados de UFC Vegas 10, Bellator 245 y Bellator 246, y repasamos las ultimas noticias de la semana incluyendo el retiro de [autotag]Ricardo Lamas[/autotag], el cambio de televisora de Bellator, el arresto de [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag], mucho y más.

 

Ricardo Lamas officially retires: How a rosary and his brother’s memory helped the UFC standout make the call

With retirement on Ricardo Lamas’ mind going into his past fight, one emotional moment helped him finalize his decision.

With retirement on [autotag]Ricardo Lamas[/autotag]’ mind going into his most recent fight, one emotional moment helped him finalize his decision.

Lamas (20-8 MMA, 11-6 UFC), 38, has officially decided to hang up his gloves, he told MMA Junkie Radio exclusively. The decision comes on the heels of a unanimous decision win over Bill Algeo at UFC on ESPN+ 33, and he said someone very special to his heart prompted that choice.

Lamas lost his brother in 2009, and though he’s always with him in spirit, something was a little different in his last fight.

“If you watch me fight, you’ll know that I always carry a rosary with me to the weigh-ins and to the walkout, and I’ll give it to my corner or whatever,” Lamas told MMA Junkie Radio. “In 2009, one of my brothers passed away and he was living in Arizona at the time. So when we got the news, me, two of my brothers and my dad went out there to kind of gather his belongings, see him, kind of identify him and bring him back. … I was in this little store, kind of like a Native American store, and they had a bunch of rosaries – little wooden rosaries.

“So I picked one up, one for myself, one for each of my brothers, one for my dad, and one for my brother who had just passed away. At his wake, I had the priest bless all the rosaries, and I gave one to each of my brothers and we buried one with my brother. So that was kind of my way of bringing him with me to every fight, because he was really proud (of me).”

Prior to facing Algeo, Lamas was coming off a knockout loss to Calvin Kattar in which he suffered a broken jaw. He entered the Algeo fight already contemplating retirement, but he almost made the walk with something pivotal missing.

“After my last fight, because of my hospitalization, I was in the hospital, putting all my crap away. I misplaced the rosary,” Lamas said. “I didn’t know where it was, and I kind of forgot about it because I pretty much only bring it to fights. And I’m getting ready to leave for Miami, and because I had to go straight to Vegas from Miami, I’m getting everything ready to bring to the fight, like my flag, and I’m looking for the rosary. I’m tearing my house apart and my wife is helping me look, and I couldn’t find it anywhere and I’m like, ‘(Expletive).’

“So I just had to leave without it. And the other crazy thing is that my brother passed away on Aug. 28, 2009. The day of the weigh-ins was Aug. 28, and that night, I had made weight. So I’m on weight, I go to bed, I wake up about 3 a.m. just because I’m so thirsty, and I just start scrolling through Facebook and one of my brothers had posted a comment on my late brother’s memorial page, and I commented on it, and I just started scrolling through pictures of him and kind of talking to him in my head and saying, ‘I know I don’t need a rosary to know that you’re here with me, and please just watch over me just one more time. I just want one more win, and I’ll move on from the sport.'”

Lamas made a promise to his brother that Aug. 29 would be his final walk. But on the morning of the fight, Lamas realized his brother was with him all along, giving him confidence that he was in for a memorable night.

“So the next morning, I’m packing up my backpack, the backpack that I use every single day. I’m putting stuff in there, and the main pocket flapped open,” Lamas said. “On the inside of the main pocket is another pocket with a zipper. The zipper was cracked maybe half an inch, an inch, and I’m just sitting on the bed, and I glance over and look at the backpack and through that half-an-inch hole, I see a piece of the rosary in there. And I was like, ‘No (expletive) way.’ So I unzip it, stick my hand in and pull the rosary out and just started bursting out into tears.

“But after that happened, I knew something big was going to happen in this fight. One of my corners was staying with me, and I tried telling him about it and I couldn’t even talk. I kept getting choked up. I was crying, and then he started crying, so I’ve never had anything like that happen to me – if it was a coincidence … the same day that my brother passed away … a few hours before, I’m literally talking to him in my head and mention the rosary … I didn’t have it with me … and I think it was just his way of letting me know he was still there. So he kept his promise to watch over me, so I’ve got to stick by my word, and I’m going to hang up my gloves after that performance.”

Lamas put on a vintage performance, using his experience and grit to outlast Algeo in a “Fight of the Night” effort. The WEC and UFC veteran has been a top contender for the majority of his career, even challenging for the UFC featherweight title in 2014. He holds notable wins over Cub Swanson, Diego Sanchez and Charles Oliveira, and has competed against the who’s-who of the sport.

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MMA Junkie Radio #3085: Ricardo Lamas makes retirement official, UFC on ESPN+ 34 recap, more

Check out the latest edition of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze.”

Monday’s episode of MMA Junkie Radio with hosts “Gorgeous” George and “Goze” is here!

On Episode No. 3,085 of the podcast, the guys bring on longtime friend of the program [autotag]Ricardo Lamas[/autotag], who made his retirement official on the show after hinting at it for the past 10 days. Plus, they recap UFC on ESPN+ 34 and much more.

Stream or download this and all episodes of MMA Junkie Radio over at OmnyStudio. You can also catch it on Apple PodcastsSpotifyStitcher, and more. A new episode of the podcast is released every Monday and Thursday.

UFC on ESPN+ 33: Despite wins, Mallory Martin, Polyana Viana could face six-month suspensions

Despite picking up wins, Polyana Viana and Mallory Martin could be facing up to six months on the sidelines.

Despite picking up wins at UFC on ESPN+ 33, [autotag]Polyana Viana[/autotag] and [autotag]Mallory Martin[/autotag] could potentially face up to six months on the sidelines due to medical suspensions.

MMA Junkie obtained the full list of suspensions from MixedMartialArts.com, the Association of Boxing Commission’s official record keeper.

In the night’s opener, Martin (7-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) picked up a comeback submission finish of [autotag]Hannah Cifers[/autotag] (10-7 MMA, 2-5 UFC) at this past weekend’s event, which took place at UFC Apex in Las Vegas. In the second fight of the night, Viana (11-4 MMA, 2-3 UFC) submitted [autotag]Emily Whitmire[/autotag] (4-4 MMA, 2-3 UFC) with an armbar in the first round.

Also potentially facing several months on the shelf is [autotag]Ji Yeon Kim[/autotag], who suffered a unanimous decision loss to [autotag]Alexa Grasso[/autotag] (12-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC). Kim (9-3-2 MMA, 3-3 UFC) has to have her right orbital non-displaced fracture cleared or she could be facing six months.

Despite the one-sided loss to [autotag]Aleksandar Rakic[/autotag] in the main event, [autotag]Anthony Smith[/autotag] (32-16 MMA, 8-4 UFC) will only be facing 45 days, whereas Rakic (13-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) did not receive a suspension.

[autotag]Robbie Lawler[/autotag] (28-15 MMA, 13-9 UFC) will be facing 45 days for nasal lacerations in his co-main event loss to [autotag]Neil Magny[/autotag], whereas Magny (24-7 MMA, 17-6 UFC) will be facing 45 days until the cut on his right elbow is cleared by a doctor.

Below is the full list of UFC on ESPN+ 33 medical suspensions:

  • Anthony Smith: Suspended 45 days with no contact for 30 days.
  • Aleksandar Rakic: No suspension.
  • Robbie Lawler: Suspended 45 days with no contest for 30 days due to nasal lacerations.
  • Neil Magny: Suspended 45 days or until cut on right elbow cleared by doctor or no contest until Sept. 11.
  • Ji Yeon Kim: Must have right orbital non-displaced fracture cleared by oral and maxillofacial doctor or ophthalmologist or no contest until Feb. 26; minimum suspension until Oct. 14 with no contact until Sept. 29.
  • Alexa Grasso: No suspension.
  • [autotag]Ricardo Lamas[/autotag]: Suspended 30 days with no contact for 21 days.
  • [autotag]Bill Algeo[/autotag]: No suspension.
  • [autotag]Maki Pitolo[/autotag]: Suspended 45 days with no contact for 30 days due to facial lacerations.
  • [autotag]Impa Kasangay[/autotag]: Must have right eye laceration cleared by doctor or no contest until Oct. 14; minimum suspension until Sept. 11.
  • [autotag]Alessio Di Chirico[/autotag]: Suspended 45 days with no contact for 30 days.
  • [autotag]Zak Cummings[/autotag]: No suspension.
  • [autotag]Alex Caceres[/autotag]: No suspension.
  • [autotag]Austin Springer[/autotag]: No suspension.
  • [autotag]Sean Brady[/autotag]: No suspension.
  • [autotag]Christian Aguilera[/autotag]: Suspended 45 days with no contact for 30 days due to right eyebrow and nose lacerations.
  • Polyana Viana: Must have right thumb MRI and x-ray of
    right foot. If positive, then must have orthopedic doctor clearance or no contest until Feb. 26, 2021; minimum suspension until Sept. 29 with no contact until Sept. 20.
  • Emily Whitmire: Suspended 30 days with no contact for 30 days due to left elbow pain.
  • Mallory Martin: Must have right knee MRI. If positive, must have orthopedic doctor clearance or no contest until Feb. 26, 2021; minimum suspension until Oct. 29 with no contact until Oct. 14.
  • Hannah Cifers: Must have nose cut cleared by doctor or no contest until Oct. 14; minimum suspension until Sept. 29 with no contact until Sept. 20.

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UFC standout Ricardo Lamas firms up retirement decision: ‘I want to go out on a high note’

Ricardo Lamas was on the fence about retirement after UFC on ESPN+ 33, but sounds like his mind is made up a few days removed from his win.

[autotag]Ricardo Lamas[/autotag] left his MMA future up in the air after his win this past Saturday in Las Vegas.

He said he wanted to talk over his options with his family before making a decision – though it sounded like the longtime featherweight standout was leaning toward retirement. Tuesday, it sounded like his mind was made up, and that his “Fight of the Night” decision win over Bill Algeo at UFC on ESPN+ 33 will be his last trip to the cage.

Lamas (20-8 MMA, 11-6 UFC) took a unanimous decision from Algeo (13-5 MMA, 0-1 UFC) to open the main card at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. He won with 29-27 scores from all three judges, each of whom gave him a 10-8 third round when the bout was even at a round each.

Lamas told former Bellator and UFC analyst Jimmy Smith on his new “Unlocking the Cage” show on SiriusXM’s Fight Nation Ch. 156 that going out with a win played a big factor in his decision.

“For me, there were a couple things going into this sport that I wanted to do before I left it,” Lamas said. “I’ve accomplished a ton of that. I’m the type of guy where if I were to leave on a bad note, it would just stick with me for the longest time ever – and it’s just something that I couldn’t live with. I always told myself I want to go out on a high note.

“You always hear about these athletes that don’t know when to hang the gloves up, and they experience this downward slide, and it’s just like, ‘Man, this isn’t the same guy he was before.’ I don’t want to leave the sport like that. I don’t want to leave with my face in the mud. I want to leave holding my head up high.”

Lamas lives in Chicago’s West suburbs and owns a UFC Gym location in suburban Naperville, Ill. But he has based a large portion of his training in Miami at the MMA Masters gym, meaning time spent away from his wife and three children, the youngest of which only is a little more than a year old.

After his win over Algeo, a portion of his post-fight time on the microphone was devoted to a message to Cuban-Americans regarding the political climate in Cuba, as well.

“The more I think about that last fight and everything that happened – having it be a ‘Fight of the Night,’ just showing everybody I’m still there; I can still hang with these guys; I leave my heart in the cage; having my post-fight speech kind of go viral with the Cuban-American community everywhere; just the influx of messages I’ve been getting – I was up a 3 in the morning rocking my girl to sleep because she woke up in the middle of the night, trying to answer everybody back – the more I think about all those things, the more I couldn’t make a more perfect time to leave the sport and kind of leave my legacy where it’s at.”

Lamas fought six times in the WEC, going 4-2 as a lightweight, before that promotion merged with the UFC in late 2010. He started off 4-0 in the UFC as a featherweight, including a bonus-winning submission of Cub Swanson in November 2011.

He fought just once in 2012 and once in 2013 as part of his four-fight run, but that streak was good enough to get a shot at Jose Aldo’s featherweight title at UFC 169. He went the distance with the Brazilian in the co-main event in Newark, N.J., and took a round from the champ from all three judges, but came up short. He flirted with title contention in the division after that, but key losses to Chad Mendes and Max Holloway kept him from another title shot.

After a rough stretch of three losses in four fights, Lamas’ win over Algeo was a bounce-back that gave him wins in two of his past three.

“I was never a world champion or anything like that, but with my post-fight speech, if I could be one tiny spark of the million sparks that helps bring down the dictatorship in Cuba, to me that’s worth more than 10 world championships put together.

“(I want fans to remember) maybe that I’m just kind of one of the last of the old-school guys that held the true aspect of martial arts true during my whole career – respect and discipline I didn’t put on an act. I was who I was every time. And every time I stepped into that cage, I gave it my all and left my heart soul in there. I think if people remember me that way, I’d be pretty happy with my legacy.”

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MMA Junkie Radio #3083: UFC on ESPN+ 33 reaction, will Ricardo Lamas retire?

Check out the latest edition of MMA Junkie Radio with “Gorgeous” George and “Goze.”

Monday’s episode of MMA Junkie Radio with hosts “Gorgeous” George and “Goze” is here!

On Episode No. 3,083 of the podcast, the guys recap the action from UFC on ESPN+ 33, discuss whether or not [autotag]Ricardo Lamas[/autotag] will retire, [autotag]Diego Sanchez[/autotag]’s desire to keep his career rolling, and much more.

Stream or download this and all episodes of MMA Junkie Radio over at OmnyStudio. You can also catch it on Apple PodcastsSpotifyStitcher, and more. A new episode of the podcast is released every Monday and Thursday.