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[Sakara=Excitement]

Ricardo Lamas: 'I should be next in line for that shot' | News

UFC featherweight Ricardo Lamas (13-2 MMA, 4-0 UFC) would have texted Dana White about fighting Jose Aldo – if he had the UFC president's phone number.

Instead, he settled for a tweet. Unfortunately, another person had beaten him to the proverbial punch: Anthony Pettis.

"That text" is a message relayed by White during the post-event press conference for UFC 156, which took place this past Saturday at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

White said Pettis texted him following the pay-per-view card's main event, which saw Jose Aldo outpoint ex-lightweight champ Frankie Edgar by scores of 49-46, 49-46, 48-47. Pettis wanted to drop to featherweight to challenge the featherweight champ, who's now defended his belt four times.

Former WEC champ Pettis kicked an extra check from Lamas's hands earlier this month when he banked a $50,000 performance bonus for stopping Donald Cerrone in the co-main event of UFC on FOX 6.

Pettis launched a flying knee of the cage that wowed the audience and White, who afterward said it was a forgone conclusion that the Duke Roufus trained fighter would be the next guy to vie for the belt – at lightweight.

But the highlight-reel fight wasn't the only impressive finish on the fight. One fight prior to Pettis, Lamas bludgeoned Erik Koch for a second-round TKO stoppage. Koch was once scheduled to fight Aldo before an injury put his career on hold, making Lamas the contender apparent to the featherweight champ.

Yet the idea of Pettis vs Aldo was intriguing enough to White that he entertained the idea of instead putting Lamas in a fight with Chan Sung Jung. He clarified that "The Korean Zombie" was injured and could be out until spring, but he appeared open to the prospect of giving another standout lightweight an immediate featherweight title shot.

None of this chatter was encouraging to Lamas, who's built an four-fight win streak since transitioning from the WEC to the UFC.

Today, Lamas stressed he would wait for Aldo for six months if asked to by the UFC, or he would take the title shot in three months. He also said he would take a main event or co-main event if the promotion decided to skip over him. But that's clearly not what he thinks is the right thing to do.

At featherweight, he should be first.

[cnlclink]

Agreed 100%. I'm not a fan of this meh approach to title shots that the UFC has been providing people lately...Diaz, Frankie, CHAEL.

[Fe1]

I think he should get it but only because the Korean Zombie has been out for so long. Siver would be a close second in line I think.

[trustkill]

Listened to the Anthony Pettis interview on MMA Hour and Dana hasn't returned his text regarding the fight with Aldo. That suggests to me that Showtime will have to wait his turn at the LW belt, which means Lamas is probably #1 in line for Aldo.

Regarding title shots, the UFC business model depends on having "highly anticipated" title fight headliners for every (or nearly every) fight card. But the natural order of randomness** doesn't always carve up a single clear cut contender for every weight division every 3-4 months, and thus, Zuffa often find themselves trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. If they have to force an option to fit, I prefer that option comes off an exciting win (Weidman, Showtime) as opposed to a suspension (Diaz) or a loss in which the challenger got finished (Sonnen). Just the lesser of two evils.

**That randomness is what makes the sport so damn exciting, as seen this past Saturday night at UFC 156.

[Fedorlei Gomipierre]

Lamas is the #1 contender. He's beaten the top contenders and has earned the shot.

That said, the way ZUFFA decides who has next shot has more to do with name than anything and I think either Pettis or Zombie(who I think still has a bit of a layoff before his return and may be a poor choice to pit against Aldo given he's just had major knee surgery) could get the nod.

Siver hasn't fought the level of competition that Lamas has and I don't think his name value is that superior.

Too bad Mendes is going to have to wait for such a while if he were to ever get a rematch with Aldo, because I think he'll continue to dust the rest of the division, no matter who comes down from LW.

[joeodd2]

the UFC has a clear strategy in granting title shots. The shots goes to the fighter with the biggest name and most exciting style. If a guy fights like Jon Fitch he may never see a title shot. Now Lamas has an exciting style, but he was trumped by a bigger name who also has an exciting style. He just needs to keep putting away guys, maybe go after clay guida or KZ, maybe KJ noons if he goes to 145. gets you some scalps on that belt and "go get you some fans" as a wise man once said.....

[Sakara=Excitement]

Jose Aldo vs. Anthony Pettis set for August 3 UFC event - MMA Fighting

[Supe]

Money talks and winning streaks walk

[rivethead]

It's a good thing for Lamas that dana doesn't respond overly emotionally when he's criticized.

Particularly in cases like this, where he's wrong and someone else points that out.

rh

[Fedorlei Gomipierre]

UFC's own Featherweight rankings have Mendes at 2 and Lamas at three, yet unsurprise, unsurprise, a third LW is coming down to get a title shot after making little waves in the division(Kenny had one fight at FW prior, Edgar).

I'm really looking forward to this fight no question, but now, Lamas is going to have to wait a minimum of a year before getting a shot(considering that after August, Aldo's next fight isn't unitl Janurary-ish) and he's already gutted two former #1 contenders and a top contender in Swanson. Outside of fighting Mendes, there's really nobody in his league ranking-wise right now, since I think that Zombie is a fight removed especially considering the long layoff(maybe Frankie, but that would be silly giving the guy who lost a title fight after never fighting in the division fighting the number one contender) and the scary thing is, I wouldn't be surprised if Gil loses to Bendo and gets next dibs on winner of Aldo/Pettis.....

I just see the former two "contenders" in Koch and Hioki never actually eventually getting their shot at Aldo before dropping a fight(not to mention Grispi) and I'm just cautious if Lamas will be able to keep winning against the top tier before getting his shot at the big dog.

Hioki and Koch have already lost their shots