In the co-main event of UFC 169, featherweight champion Jose Aldo looked to defend his title against Ricardo Lamas. Over their five round fight, Aldo completely outclassed Lamas throughout the first four rounds. Lamas found some success in the final round gaining top position midway through and tried to damage with ground and ound. That wasn’t enough to earn the title though and he lost the unanimous decision.
The action was slow through the first half of the first round. Lamas tried to work leg kicks, but had every attempt checked. Aldo worked to cut off the Octagon, but Lamas purposely stayed just outside his reach. Aldo caught a kickk from Lamas and followed up with a powerful combination. After dodging a head kick, Aldo slips a Lamas jab and countered with a straight right.
Aldo landed a quick punch to leg kick combination a minute in to start the second round. Lamas doing his best to mix up high and low strikes, but clearly outmatched by the champ. Hard left-right to the body landed by Aldo. Aldo started to find his rhythm and showed more aggression. A vicious series of leg kicks to the lead leg of Lamas by Aldo. Aldo worked shots to the body in with his repeated leg kicks before the bell rang.
Also continued his assault on the legs of Lamas. Just over a minute into the third round he unleashed a vicious combination linking hooks to the head and kicks to the legs. Throughout the rest of the round, Aldo methodically picked apart Lamas on the feet, repeatedly landing his leg kicks while mixing in punches to the head and body.
For the first time in the fight, Lamas moved in for the takedown. Lamas lifted up the champ and pressed him against the fence, but still couldn’t get the TD. Aldo turned around the clinch and pressed Lamas from there. Takedown from Aldo, but he wasn’t able to do much with it. Lamas gave up his back trying to escape. He was able to avoid the choke before gaining his feet and pressuring Aldo against the fence.
Aldo opened up the final round with an early takedown of Lamas. He deliberately moved into mount but didn’t do a lot of damage in the process. Lamas was able to reverse and get into Aldo’s guard. He landed a couple good ground and pound shots. He worked elbows from postured position in guard and ended the round landing blows.
Jose Aldo successfully defended his title with a unanimous decision (49-46 x 3) over Ricardo Lamas.
heading into UFC 169, Aldo had successfully defended his title five times and had only been defeated once in a 24 fight MMA career. Lamas earned his challenger spot by stringing together an impressive four fight win streak inside the Octagon.
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