Originally, long-time UFC featherweight contender Ricardo Lamas was expected to rematch former champion Jose Aldo at UFC on Fox 26, which goes down on December 16 in Winnipeg. When Frankie Edgar was forced out of his UFC 218 featherweight title fight with champ Max Holloway, however, Aldo was pulled from his fight with Lamas, and reassigned as Holloway’s replacement opponent. This, of course, left Lamas without an opponent.
After a prolonged stretch with no updates on Lamas’ replacement opponent, it seems as though the UFC has finally found him a new foe. According to ever-reliable MMA insider Farah Hannoun, Lamas is now likely to battle Josh Emmett in Winnipeg.
BREAKING: Ricardo Lamas (@RicardoLamasMMA) vs. @JoshEmmett155 in the works for #UFCWinnipeg (December 16th) #UFC #MMA #UFConFox26 pic.twitter.com/0uHjcAjfRL
— Farah Hannoun (@Farah_Hannoun) November 28, 2017
Lamas is currently riding high on a two-fight win-streak, having recently mauled Charles “Do Bronx” Oliveira, and red-hot prospect Jason Knight, winning by second-round submission and first-round TKO respectively. These wins separated Lamas from an action-packed decision loss to the current champ Holloway, which was in turn preceded by a win over Diego Sanchez, and a TKO loss to Chad Mendes. “The Bully” is currently 18-5 overall.
Emmett, meanwhile, is 12-1 in sum. Since debuting in the UFC in May of 2016, the Team Alpha Male product has defeated Jon Tuck, Scott Holtzman, and most recently, Felipe Arantes. His lone Octagon loss occurred on the undercard of UFC 210, when he gave up a split decision to Desmond Green.
UFC on Fox 26 will be headlined by a welterweight bout between former UFC champs Robbie Lawler and Rafael dos Anjos, which could well produce the next challenger for reigning champ Tyron Woodley. Other highlights of the card include a light heavyweight bout between Misha Cirkunov and Glover Teixeira, and a welterweight firefight between “Platinum” Mike Perry and Santiago Ponzinibbio.
What do you think of this fight between Ricardo Lamas and Josh Emmett?
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 28/11/2017.