Featherweight Discusses Emotional Win Over Cub Swanson at UFC on FOX 1

By Kelsey Mowatt

Ricardo Lamas closed out his 2011 campaign at last weekend’s UFC on FOX 1 card in memorable fashion, not only by recording his second Octagon win with a second round tap out of Cub Swanson, but by collecting “Submission of the Night” honors. Despite the highlight reel finish, and an extra $65,000 for his efforts, however, Lamas isn’t overly thrilled with how his latest win unfolded.

“I did have a chance to watch the fight, and to be honest, I wasn’t too happy with my performance,” Lamas told FCF. “Especially in that first round; I was fighting with a lot of emotion, instead of being smart, letting my emotions guide me instead of being technical. I was sitting back; I wasn’t opening up and I let him dictate too much of what was going in the first round.”

“Other than that, in the second round I opened up and got a little more aggressive,”” Lamas added. “I finished the fight.”

The first round included a variety of striking techniques and several highlight reel moments, which led to several interesting exchanges between Lamas and Swanson.

“No, he wasn’t talking; we were just going back-and-forth and kind of smiling, just enjoying the fight,” Lamas noted. “There was that one point where I kind of faked the takedown and went for a cartwheel kick, and he kind of laughed, shook his head, said that was his move. I hadn’t seem him do it before, but it was good natured, we weren’t talking trash or anything like that.”

Lamas cited that he was fighting with emotion during the fight, and after tapping Swanson out in round two, the 29 year-old –fighter broke down.

“I had a death in the family recently,” Lamas reported. “I was supposed to be in California last Tuesday, but I couldn’t go until Thursday night, because I had to attend services, the wake and the funeral, so I pretty much went from that to the fight itself. The whole thing was a bit of a roller coaster emotionally.”

Lamas acknowledges that the unfortunate circumstances that surrounded his latest win, however, made it that much more memorable.

“Definitely it did; it was my Grandma that passed away, so I really wanted to dedicate the fight to her,” said Lamas. “I was doing anything that I could to get that win, and it definitely was very emotional, which is why I broke down inside the Octagon.”

With the win, Lamas has now won two straight fights and the accomplished collegiate wrestler is now 4-1 in his last five fights.

“I think it was a big win; he’s a well known name and has beaten some good guys,” said Lamas about Swanson. “I think it pushes me up a little bit. The only thing I can do is get back into the gym and train harder than I have before. Get ready for this next fight.”

“I’m going to be ready for anything,” Lamas added, while discussing whether he believes a bout with one of the division’s more established featherweights will come next. “Whatever they give me I’m going to take it.”

Of course, securing a “Submission of the Night” bonus at this time of the year, will likely help Lamas and his family celebrate the coming Holidays that much more.

“I’ve been really wanting to win one of these bonuses,” Lamas said, who stopped Matt Grice in June to record his first UFC win. “There have been some times in the past where I thought I was pretty close to getting one and just missed it…it’s definitely going to impact me a lot and I’m going try to use it to help out my family as much as I can.”

The submission also came against a BJJ black belt, further enhancing the importance of the accomplishment.

“I didn’t even know he was a black belt until after the fight, so it was cool to find that out after,” Lamas acknowledged. “I’ve been rolling with black belts, especially down in Miami; I’m used to giving them competition. It’s definitely a nice thing to know I submitted a black belt in jiu-jitsu.”

Photo courtesy: Team Top Notch