Ricardo Lamas vs. Hacran Dias Booked For UFC Fight Night 44 In San Antonio
No. 3-ranked UFC featherweight contender Ricardo Lamas hasn’t made much noise since his UFC 169 loss to featherweight champion Jose Aldo back in February.
“The Bully” turned it on late at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, but was largely outstruck by Aldo’s vaunted kickboxing. Afterwards he blamed his gameplan for the loss, noting that he was out to prove he could stand with “Junior.”
Prior to facing Aldo, Lamas had reeled off four straight victories over solid competition to earn the title shot.
Tonight, news has brought his next challenge.
Chan Sung Jung recently called out for a fight with Lamas in late August or early September, but “The Bully” said he wanted to get back in the cage sooner so he could potentially fight on the upcoming Mexico City event on November 15.
Lamas called out for bouts against surging No. 5-ranked challenger Dustin Poirier and No. 1 Dennis Bermudez, but apparently the UFC was looking at someone coming off a loss.
Today, that someone has been confirmed, and Lamas will be facing off with another Nova Uniao-trained fighter. Set to face off with Hacran Dias at June 28’s UFC Fight Night 44 from San Antonio, Texas, Lamas will receive quite the step down in competition.
Dias was most recently seen losing a unanimous decision way back at UFC on FX 8 last year. He won his previous nine bouts, however; so like Lamas, he’s looking to regain lost momentum.
Dias has gone through a very tumultuous past year, as he was forced to pull out of a UFC Fight Night 34 bout with debuting Japanese star Tatsuya Kawajiri. Manny Gamburyan and Rodrigo Damm were also hurt training to face Dias.
Now he’s got a huge return bout, but he’ll be faced with an incredibly tough challenge.
UFC Fight Night 44 features a rumored featherweight title eliminator between Cub Swanson, whom Lamas submitted back at UFC on FOX 1 in 2011, and Jeremy Stephens, who has looked like a man possessed since making the cut down to 145 pounds.
Lamas was on the lookout for a big fight, but instead got a solid but lesser-known opponent on his road back to the top. Will it be an easy win for “The Bully?”
Photo: Joe Camporeale for USA TODAY Sports
