UFC Fight Night 44's Hacran Dias gets cheat sheet from Aldo for Lamas fight

UFC featherweight Hacran Dias is the first opponent Ricardo Lamas has faced since falling short to champ Jose Aldo earlier this year.

Dias (21-2-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC), though, is the second straight opponent to hail from Brazilian supercamp Nova Uniao, which means he’s gotten the inside track on Lamas (13-3 MMA, 4-1 UFC) for their main-card fight at Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 44 at AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas.

“I already exchanged information with Aldo so I know what to expect,” Dias told MMAjunkie. “We’ve gone over every detail and all that’s left is putting theory into practice.”

Dias vs. Lamas takes place on the event’s main card, which airs live on FOX Sports 1 following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Like Lamas, Dias wants to shrug off the bad taste in his mouth left from his previous performance. Dias met Nik Lentz and was outwrestled en route to a unanimous decision loss, which handed him his first setback in four years and nine fights.

“I was fooled into thinking that he was going to strike with me from the get-go, and he did the opposite,” Dias said. “In hindsight, I should have been much more aggressive from round one. He wouldn’t have made it past the second.

“Without a doubt, I will be taking the lead in the future, and not waiting for my opponent to get something going.”

Against Lamas, that means meting out his strikes in a slow and steady fashion, just as Aldo did. The Brazilian champ didn’t wow anybody with the pace of his offense, but he consistently chopped away at the challenger until it was clear he was in the driver’s seat.

Despite misjudging his past opponent, Dias is expecting a standup fight against Lamas, and he is expecting a different outcome.

“We’re just going to hit each other, and let’s see who wins,” he said. “People can talk all they want, but whoever connects first is likely to be the winner, and I’m hoping it will be me.

“I’m very hungry after a year without fighting. All I know is that my hand will be raised at the end.”

For more on UFC Fight Night 44, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.