Lamas (photo via Top Notch Fitness)

Believes White’s Opinion of “TKZ’s” Style “Played Into” Decision

By Kelsey Mowatt

While Ricardo Lamas has established himself as one of the world’s best featherweights since arriving in the UFC, with that success has come substantial frustration as of late. The reason being, of course, that Lamas was recently informed that Chan Sung Jung would no longer fight him at UFC 162, because he’s been tapped for a title shot at UFC 163. “The Korean Zombie” will step in for the injured Anthony Pettis, who’s another fighter that was chosen over Lamas to challenge champion Jose Aldo. Since “The Bully” believes he earned the right to fight Aldo sometime ago, one can understand why the fighter was perturbed by the decisions.

“My brother talks to the UFC for me, and the reason they gave us, was that “The Korean Zombie” was promised a title shot over a year ago or something like that,” Lamas told Full Contact Fighter. “That was their reasoning for it. Didn’t make much sense to me; I don’t know how you can give a title shot to someone who’s been sitting out for a year, when there’s another guy who’s been beating guys who were supposed to be getting the title shot. Beating the number one contender.”

Jung is currently riding a three fight win streak, which includes memorable wins over Leonard Garcia, Mark Hominick and Dustin Poirier. The victory over Poirier, however, took place last May, as Jung underwent shoulder surgery following that bout and has been on the shelf ever since.

Lamas, on the other hand, is coming off victories over Matt Grice, Cub Swanson, Hatsu Hioki and Erik Koch, the latter of which took place in January. The victory over Koch was particularly impressive, as not only did he defeat a man who had been scheduled to fight Aldo previously, but he stopped the noted featherweight in dominant fashion.

Lamas (photo via UFC.com)

“It is what it is; I can’t do anything about it, but hopefully they fix it and let me get the winner,”said Lamas, who also relayed that the promotion has not guaranteed he will fight for the title next.

When asked if he believes Jung’s aggressive and stalking style, which has earned him “The Korean Zombie” moniker, may have played into the UFC’s decision, Lamas responded:

“Me and him have different styles yes, but if you look at my past four fights, I’ve finished three of those four fights and the one fight that I didn’t finish, I went into with an injury,” Lamas noted. “I still fought and I still won. To say they gave it to him because he’s more exciting and finishes fights, or whatever, I finish fights too.”

“I think Dana White likes him,” added Lamas. “Dana White likes the way he fights, likes the guy as a fighter and stuff, so I think that played into it definitely.”

Regardless of the reason, the UFC has agreed to pay Lamas his show money for UFC 162, and White also called the featherweight personally to reassure him that his accomplishments have not gone unnoticed.

“Dana White was very nice on the phone,” said Lamas. “He basically told me that I’m in the same position as Carlos Condit was in a year ago, and Johny Hendricks, and he promised me that my time will come.”

“The show money is awesome,” Lamas furthered. “They didn’t have to do that. That was a very nice gesture on their behalf. It helps, but I would have rather had the title shot you know?”