Jose Aldo is still recovering from a foot injury sustained in his last title defense in the UFC, and Ricardo Lamas is patiently waiting for his opportunity to fight for the title.
Riding a four-fight win streak, including finishes over Erik Koch, Matt Grice and Cub Swanson, Lamas should return to the Octagon in February 2014 against Jose Aldo, according to his coach Daniel Valverde.
“We are waiting for a title fight,” Valverde told MMAFighting.com. “Ricardo is the only option to fight Aldo now. Chad Mendes already fought him and lost, and already has a fight coming up (vs. Nik Lentz, at UFC on FOX 9). The other option would be Cub Swanson, but Ricardo submitted him three fights ago. I believe Ricardo is the only option to fight for the title right now.”
There’s no official word from the UFC regarding Lamas challenging Aldo in his next fight, but the featherweight champion told MMAFighting.com that Lamas should sit and wait for his return since he believes he deserves the next shot at the title. And Lamas plans to wait.
“He’s in Chicago, but he’s coming to Miami now to start training,” he said. “We hope he fights Jose Aldo in February, but there’s nothing official yet. That’s what we expect. If this fight is really going to happen, it will probably happen in February.”
Lamas has only lost twice in 15 MMA fights and is undefeated in the UFC, and his jiu-jitsu coach believes his drive to finish fights makes him a big threat to Aldo.
“Ricardo is a really dangerous fighter,” Valverde said. “He doesn’t waste opportunities to finish fights. We will study Aldo a lot and Ricardo will be ready to do his best in this fight. We do respect Jose Aldo a lot, but we won’t get there to play. We are going there to win.”