Following his most recent victory inside the Octagon, Ricardo Lamas was honest about his contemplation of retirement. Now the longtime MMA veteran has decided to make the decision official.
Although he never won a title in the UFC, Lamas has had a pretty impressive career overall. He has had some highs and some lows, but he never shied away from a fight, always delivering an action packed fight. Even his most recent outing saw him put on a Fight of the Night performance while getting a win over a debuting Bill Algeo.
Ricardo Lamas Officially Retires
Following this exciting victory, Ricardo Lamas was expressing interest in potentially hanging up the gloves. He said that he wanted to talk with his family about it, but he felt like it was the perfect time for him to walk away. Now just a few days later, the Bully revealed in a recent interview that he has made the decision to officially retire. This decision apparently stemmed from the fact that he lost a rosary that he carries with him to every fight, in order to remember his brother who passed away.
“If you watch me fight, you’ll know that I always carry a rosary with me to the weigh-ins and to the walkout, and I’ll give it to my corner or whatever,” Lamas said. “In 2009, one of my brothers passed away and he was living in Arizona at the time. So when we got the news, me, two of my brothers and my dad went out there to kind of gather his belongings, see him, kind of identify him and bring him back. … I was in this little store, kind of like a Native American store, and they had a bunch of rosaries – little wooden rosaries.
“So I picked one up, one for myself, one for each of my brothers, one for my dad, and one for my brother who had just passed away. At his wake, I had the priest bless all the rosaries, and I gave one to each of my brothers and we buried one with my brother. So that was kind of my way of bringing him with me to every fight, because he was really proud (of me).”
“After my last fight (against Calvin Kattar), because of my hospitalization, I was in the hospital, putting all my crap away. I misplaced the rosary,” Lamas said. “I didn’t know where it was, and I kind of forgot about it because I pretty much only bring it to fights. And I’m getting ready to leave for Miami, and because I had to go straight to Vegas from Miami, I’m getting everything ready to bring to the fight, like my flag, and I’m looking for the rosary. I’m tearing my house apart and my wife is helping me look, and I couldn’t find it anywhere and I’m like, ‘(Expletive).’
“So I just had to leave without it. And the other crazy thing is that my brother passed away on Aug. 28, 2009. The day of the weigh-ins was Aug. 28, and that night, I had made weight. So I’m on weight, I go to bed, I wake up about 3 a.m. just because I’m so thirsty, and I just start scrolling through Facebook and one of my brothers had posted a comment on my late brother’s memorial page, and I commented on it, and I just started scrolling through pictures of him and kind of talking to him in my head and saying, ‘I know I don’t need a rosary to know that you’re here with me, and please just watch over me just one more time. I just want one more win, and I’ll move on from the sport.’”
This was an emotional thing for Ricardo Lamas to go through. However shortly after agreeing to fight on August 29th, the day after the anniversary of his brother’s passing, something incredible happened. He somehow found the rosary in the backpack that he always uses.
“So the next morning, I’m packing up my backpack, the backpack that I use every single day. I’m putting stuff in there, and the main pocket flapped open,” Lamas said. “On the inside of the main pocket is another pocket with a zipper. The zipper was cracked maybe half an inch, an inch, and I’m just sitting on the bed, and I glance over and look at the backpack and through that half-an-inch hole, I see a piece of the rosary in there. And I was like, ‘No (expletive) way.’ So I unzip it, stick my hand in and pull the rosary out and just started bursting out into tears.
“But after that happened, I knew something big was going to happen in this fight. One of my corners was staying with me, and I tried telling him about it and I couldn’t even talk. I kept getting choked up. I was crying, and then he started crying, so I’ve never had anything like that happen to me – if it was a coincidence … the same day that my brother passed away … a few hours before, I’m literally talking to him in my head and mention the rosary … I didn’t have it with me … and I think it was just his way of letting me know he was still there. So he kept his promise to watch over me, so I’ve got to stick by my word, and I’m going to hang up my gloves after that performance.”
There is no doubt that this had to have been an emotional ride for Ricardo Lamas. He has had an amazing career, and his brother would undoubtedly be proud of him for it. Hopefully his life after fighting will bring fulfillment and happiness.
