After putting on the fight of the night with Bill Algeo over the weekend, featherweight vet Ricardo Lamas revealed that he was contemplating retirement. Now he explains in more detail why he is considering this, and why this is a good time to walk away.
As far as UFC careers go, Lamas had about as good of one as possible without winning a championship. He has faced the best of the best for years, winning more often than not, and proving to be a tough test for future champions and challengers, such as Jose Aldo and Max Holloway to name a few. Even his most recent fight saw him put on a Fight of the Night winning performance, beating the UFC debutant Algeo by decision. Win or lose, the Bully always shows up and looks to have an exciting fight.
Time For Ricardo Lamas To Retire
After his win at UFC Vegas 8, the 38-year old Ricardo Lamas spoke in his post-fight interview about injustices in Cuba. However he also mentioned that he may retire from the sport, saying that he wanted to consult his family before making that decision. Speaking with SiriusXM, the former title challenger opened up about this decision, and why he feels it is the right time to hang up the gloves.
“For me, there were a couple of things going into this sport, that I wanted to do before I left it,” Lamas explained. “I feel like I’ve accomplished a ton of that, and I’m the type of guy where if I were to leave on a bad note, it would just stick with me for the longest time ever. It’s just something I couldn’t live with. I always told myself that I wanted to go out on a high note. You always hear about these athletes that don’t know when to hang the gloves up, and experience this downward slide.
“I don’t want to leave the sport like that,” Lamas continued. “I don’t want to leave with my face in the mud, I want to leave holding my head up high. So the more I think about that last fight and everything that happened, having it be Fight of the Night, just showing everybody that I’m still there, that I can still hang with these young guys and leave my heart in the cage, having my post-fight speech kind of go viral with the Cuban American community everywhere, having the influx of messages on my Instagram…the more I think about all those things, the more I couldn’t make a more perfect time to leave the sport, and kind of leave my legacy where it’s at.”
🔊"The more I think about that last fight and everything that happened…the more I couldn't make a more perfect time to leave the sport and kind of leave my legacy where it's at" – @RicardoLamasMMA discusses his #UFCVegas8 post-fight retirement comments with @jimmysmithmma👊 pic.twitter.com/kotoppAcOI
— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) September 1, 2020
If last weekend was truly the last time we see Ricardo Lamas in the Octagon, he will have ended things on a high, and left a fun legacy behind. Of course, we all know that retirements often do not last forever in MMA.
