Ricardo Lamas is officially done with MMA.
The featherweight has been fighting inside of the octagon professionally since 2008 and his hard hitting battles against José Aldo, Chad Mendes, Max Holloway, and Bill Algeo will always be remembered; however, Lamas has finally ultimately decided to call his career quits following his win at UFC Vegas 8.
The 38-year-old teased retirement following his big win over Algeo last month, with the veteran talking about his career possibly winding down during his post-fight interview:
“If this is the end of the road – thank you for the memories. I kind of have been wrestling with the idea of hanging the gloves. But that is something I want to talk to my family about first before I make a decision. To all my followers out there, if this is the last time you see me in the cage. Thank you so much.”
Now, Lamas’ retirement is official.
The featherweight confirmed the news during an interview with MMA Junkie Radio and explained that someone very close to him prompted him to make such a big decision:
“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 told MMA Junkie Radio. “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).”
Following his loss to Calvin Kattar, the retired fighter continued to detail that he lost the rosary and the realization he eventually came too:
“After my last fight, 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.'”
Lamas would eventually find the rosary the next morning and the featherweight took that as a sign that something big was going to happen in his fight against Algeo:
“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.”
Lamas ends his professional career with 20 wins and 8 losses. The now retired veteran had one championship opportunity back in 2014 against Jose Aldo, though Lamas came up short in the end.