UFC 169's Ricardo Lamas: I'll beat Aldo 100 times to prove I'm the best

Ricardo Lamas says he is ready to take a page out of Chris Weidman’s book and defeat a longtime UFC titleholder twice if need be.

Lamas (13-2 MMA, 4-0 UFC), who challenges Jose Aldo (23-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC) for the UFC featherweight title this Saturday at UFC 169, says he’ll beat the reigning champion as many times as necessary in order to be declared the undisputed No. 1 in his weight class, much like Weidman did before he first faced Anderson Silva.

“I don’t care if I have to beat him 100 times to prove I’m the best,” Lamas told MMAjunkie. “I’ll do it.”

“The Bully” has waited several months to cash in on the championship fight he first thought he deserved after knocking out Erik Koch at UFC on FOX 6 a year ago.

Sitting on the sidelines since the Koch fight has been a test of Lamas’ patience, as he has seen fighters he believes are behind him in the pecking order get a crack at Aldo’s belt.

While Lamas admits the situation has been frustrating for him, he has chosen to look at the positive side, which has been more time to work on his skills and build motivation for what is the most significant fight of his career.

“It’s frustrating, but I think the wait played out well for me,” Lamas said. “It kind of made me hungrier. I want to get back in there. I’ve been out for a long time and I just want to go perform again. I want to be under that spotlight in front of thousands of people doing my thing, and that’s going to happen on Saturday.”

UFC 169 takes place at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Between UFC 169 and the time he last fought, it will have been 371 days since Lamas entered the octagon to compete. Some fighters would have difficulty maintaining motivation over the course of such a long layoff, but Lamas says he had no problem staying fight-ready because he never knew when an opportunity might pop up.

“This is my job, and whether I have a fight lined up or not, I’m in the gym every day,” Lamas said. “This is my career. I take it very seriously, so I don’t need any extra motivation to go train.”

When the contract with Aldo’s name finally got to him, Lamas was jubilant. However, he also knew the fight was now a reality and the true preparation for his biggest challenge was only beginning.

Fighting Aldo for the belt means being ready for a potential 25 minutes. Lamas has only been scheduled for a five-round fight once before, and that came in just his second professional contest back in 2008.

That bout didn’t go the distance, however it did go deep into the fourth before Lamas eventually secured the submission victory. Even though that fight took place nearly six years ago, Lamas says the experience was beneficial when it came to training for Aldo.

“It’s definitely tricky finding the happy medium [when training for five rounds],” Lamas said. “I have had one title fight before in my career, it didn’t go the full five rounds. It went into the fourth round, but I trained the right way for it. I was in shape and I trained the right way for this one, too. I’m in shape. I’ll be able to go 10 rounds if I have too.”

When facing Aldo, having the conditioning to make it the full 25 minutes may be the least of Lamas’ concerns. “Scarface” possesses some of the most impactful striking in all the UFC, especially when it comes to leg kicks.

Several of Aldo’s previous opponents have had their offensive arsenals significantly limited after being on the receiving end of a few kicks. Lamas trained accordingly, and believes his defensive tactics will force Aldo to find an alternative way to attack.

“I kind of changed my stance up a little bit,” Lamas explained. “(I) forced my lead foot pointing outwards, so that if he does throw that kick, all I have to do is lift my leg a little bit to check it instead of turning and lifting my leg. I’m going to be looking to check his kicks. If he throws a few kicks and I check them, I don’t think he’s going to throw them anymore.”

The general consensus seems to be that Lamas, primarily a wrestler, needs to get the fight to the ground early and often if he hopes to find consistent success against the champion. Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done, as Aldo has shrugged off 61 of 66 takedown attempts in his UFC and WEC careers (92.4 percent).

With that in mind, Lamas has worked on hard on his striking and doesn’t see takedowns as a necessity. In fact, he believes if the majority of the fight is contested on the feet, he’ll be more than capable of holding his own.

“I don’t need to get this fight to the ground,” Lamas said. “I’m not going to be desperate to do that. I think that’s where people have screwed up and that’s why he’s defended so many takedown because people aren’t setting up their shots, they’re kind of just lunging in there and you see them coming from a mile away.

“I’m not going to be desperate to take him down. If I can’t take him down and we have to stand the whole time, I’m fine with that.”

Just days away from entering the cage opposite one of the sport’s top pound-for-pound fighters, Lamas’ confidence is high. The 31-year-old believes every champion must fall, and if he has to beat Aldo twice, that’s what he’s prepared to do.

“I’m going to go take what’s mine and if I have to give him a rematch, I’ll do it.”

For the latest on UFC 169, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.