There was no way Ricardo Lamas wasn’t fighting Charles Oliveira at UFC Fight Night 98

MEXICO CITY – Onetime featherweight challenger Ricardo Lamas said it didn’t even cross his mind not to fight Charles Oliveira at UFC Fight Night 98, despite the fact that the Brazilian badly missed weight.

“There was no question that I would take that fight,” Lamas (17-5 MMA, 8-3 UFC) told MMAjunkie after his second-round submission of Oliveira (21-7 MMA, 9-7 UFC) on the FS1-televised main card of Saturday’s event at Mexico City Arena in Mexico City. “It wouldn’t have mattered if he was 20 or 30 pounds overweight.”

Oliveira wasn’t quite that bad, but still came in nine pounds over at the official weigh-ins for the event. What’s more he was also forced to cut weight on the day of the fight by agreeing he wouldn’t come in over 165 pounds.

It was the fifth time Oliveira missed weight. But for Lamas, it was potentially his second canceled fight.

Only one month ago, Lamas had a headliner lined up with UFC Hall of Famer B.J. Penn at UFC Fight Night 97 when Penn suffered an injury and was forced to withdraw. Unable to find a replacement, the promotion canceled the event altogether.

The promotion’s consolation for the mishap was “a little compensation that basically paid for the expenses of the camp,” he said in an earlier interview.

So when a UFC official approached Lamas to tell him what had happened with Oliveira, he didn’t even think twice.

“Before he could finish the sentence and ask, ‘Do you still want to fight?’ (I said) yes, I still want to fight,” Lamas said. “The people of Mexico came to watch a good fight. They always support me, and there was no way I was leaving without fighting in that cage.”

Plus, you might say Lamas had some demons to work off his shoulder. In late September, he lost a longtime training partner, UFC middleweight Josh Samman, who passed away due to a likely drug overdose. Then he found his mother had cancer and needed chemotherapy.

Even UFC Fight Night 98’s date had somber significance – five years ago, his grandmother passed away from cancer.

“I carried a lot into this fight with me,” said Lamas, the No. 6 fighter in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA featherweight rankings.

So there was no keeping him from fighting. After a win over No. 11-ranked Oliveira, he’ll head home to take care of his mother. A return to the cage in spring is his current target.

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 98, check out the UFC Events section of the site.