Ricardo Lamas can't help but laugh knowing he got to Conor McGregor
For the biggest part of his MMA career, Ricardo Lamas has avoided playing the trash talk game with any of his past opponents.
While he was never afraid to speak his mind, Lamas never really saw a need to target any one fighter ahead of a matchup or make unnecessary statements just for the sake of promotion. He answered questions honestly and sometimes it sounded harsh, but on most occasions he was the picture of respect and always allowed his fists to do the talking for him in the cage.
But something changed for Lamas with the arrival of current featherweight title contender Conor McGregor when the outspoken Irishman took aim at every fighter in the division from almost the first day he stepped foot in the promotion. McGregor never held his tongue and used every fighter at 145-pounds as target practice as he climbed up the ranks until he finally received his title shot against champion Jose Aldo this summer at UFC 189.
Something about McGregor's barbs got under Lamas' skin, so the veteran featherweight who rarely had a bad word to say about anybody decided to fight fire with fire. Just ahead of McGregor's last fight against Dennis Siver, Lamas released a video dressed as 'The Delirious' Conrad McGillicutty and spent seven full minutes mocking the Irish contender about everything from the way he dresses to his self-proclaimed anointment as the new king of the featherweights.
"It came from a long time ago. Back when he came out with that video where he was kind of calling out everyone in the division where they'd flash a picture of a certain featherweight and he'd say whatever came to his mind. I actually wanted to do a spoof of that but never got around to it," Lamas told FOX Sports about the origin of 'Conrad McGillicutty'.
"After my last fight I had some time off and the UFC was still deciding who I was going to fight next so I just decided to throw that video together. He had said some stuff about me on Twitter so I decided to get him back."
Lamas loved the reaction he got from fans on Twitter and other social outlets when he released the video, but the real payoff came in Boston when he attended McGregor's fight with Siver. Throughout the course of his UFC career, McGregor had been the offensive juggernaut when it came to pre-fight trash talk and nobody had been able to go toe-to-toe with him when it came to a verbal throw down.
But Lamas must have done something right because McGregor found him in the crowd as he was walking to the Octagon and gave him a salute that let the Chicago area native know what he did was working.
"I definitely did (get to him) so much that he was thinking about me right before his last fight. He found me in the crowd and gave me the middle finger," Lamas revealed. "I couldn't help but laugh, I thought it was funny."
Lamas knew when he made the video mocking McGregor that he probably wasn't going to fight him for his next bout in the Octagon, but still decided to do it anyways. The payoff could come later this summer, however, if Lamas is successful in his next bout against Chad Mendes and if McGregor finds a way to dethrone Aldo at UFC 189.
As much as Lamas has managed to build a rivalry with McGregor, he knows none of it will matter if he doesn't get past No. 1 ranked featherweight Chad Mendes this weekend in Virginia.
"Right now I'm not even thinking about any of that," Lamas said. "I have a huge task in front of me with Chad Mendes so before any of that is even a possibility, I've got to get through this challenge first. As of right now, I don't really care about the Aldo/McGregor fight."
As a matter of fact, while UFC president Dana White is predicting record numbers for UFC 189, he may not have Lamas as a paying customer.
"I haven't decided. I don't even know if I'm going to watch it yet so we'll see when it comes up," Lamas said about the UFC 189 main event.
Lamas has definitely enjoyed the attention he's received from his 'Conrad McGillicutty' video and he might even make a return appearance before McGregor's fight with Aldo, but as much as he likes having fun and showing off a different side of his personality, the only thing that matters right now is facing and defeating Mendes.
Beyond all the hype and attention that comes along with self-promotion, more than anything else, Lamas just wants to get back to another crack at the featherweight title.
Beating Mendes is the best way to get there.
"I think the next best thing to fighting for the title is fighting the next best guy out there," Lamas said. "I believe that's Chad. He's ranked No. 1 amongst the contenders. So this is a huge fight."
