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Ryan Hall out of Ricardo Lamas fight on August 29, replacement sought after
Ryan Hall will not get the chance to fight Ricardo Lamas after all.
For over a year, Hall has been actively trying to get a ranked opponent to fight him. He has claimed many top-ranked featherweights have turned him down. Yet, on August 29, all that was going to change as he was expected to battle Ricardo Lamas. Although Lamas is not currently ranked, he still is a big name in the division, but according to John Morgan of MMAJunkie, Hall has been forced out of the fight.
Rough news for the hardcores: Ryan Hall is out of his Aug. 29 fight with Ricardo Lamas. Replacement currently sought, but will likely need to be U.S. citizen or someone with work visa due to current restrictions. Anyone game for Lamas on short notice?!?!?
— John Morgan (@JohnMorgan_MMA) August 21, 2020
“Rough news for the hardcores: Ryan Hall is out of his Aug. 29 fight with Ricardo Lamas. Replacement currently sought, but will likely need to be U.S. citizen or someone with work visa due to current restrictions. Anyone game for Lamas on short notice?!?!?”
The pair were expected to fight on May 2 but that event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The UFC obviously liked the matchup to rebook it for August, but unfortunately, that will not happen.
Ryan Hall is currently the 8-1 as a pro but on an eight-fight winning streak including being 4-0 inside the Octagon. The jiu-jitsu wizard won The Ultimate Fighter 22 as he beat Artem Lobov by decision in 2015. His other wins came by decision over Gray Maynard and Darren Elkins and a very impressive submission win over B.J. Penn.
Ricardo Lamas, meanwhile, is just 1-3 in his last four fights and coming off a TKO loss to Calvin Kattar back at UFC 238. Before that, he TKO’d Elkins to get back into the win column after losing to Mirsad Bektic and Josh Emmett.
Whether or not Lamas will take a replacement opponent is to be seen. The hope is to keep him on the card, but given Lamas’ name value, it is likely he will need it to be worth his while.
