UFC Fight Night ‘Mendes vs. Lamas’ Notebook: Patriot Games

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When Ricardo Lamas answered the phone, he knew a major opportunity was waiting on the other end. The specifics mattered not.

Lamas will meet Team Alpha Male’s Chad Mendes in the UFC Fight Night “Mendes vs. Lamas” headliner on Saturday at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Va. Stakes could not be higher for two elite featherweights who have already tried -- and failed -- to unseat Jose Aldo, the reigning Ultimate Fighting Championship titleholder at 145 pounds.

“I wasn’t really surprised,” Lamas said in a pre-fight interview with UFC.com. “I knew it was going to be one of two people -- it was either going to be Chad or Frankie [Edgar] -- so when they came at me with the opportunity to fight Chad, I said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’ He’s one of the top guys in the division, so we’re both gunning for another title shot.”

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The 32-year-old Lamas has compiled an impressive 6-1 record since arriving in the UFC in June 2011, a five-round decision loss to Aldo the lone blemish. He last appeared at UFC 180 in November, when he submitted “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 14 finalist Dennis Bermudez with a first-round guillotine choke in Mexico City. Wins over Hacran Dias, Cub Swanson, Erik Koch and Hatsu Hioki bolster the Lamas resume, which stretches back to his 2008 debut.

Widely regarded as the sport’s No. 2 featherweight, Mendes’ only two defeats have resulted from encounters with Aldo -- a first-round knockout at UFC 142 and a five-round decision in their rematch at UFC 179. He wrestled collegiately at California Polytechnic State University, where he was a two-time NCAA All-American, and has developed into one of MMA’s most complete fighters.

“I feel like I can take this fight pretty much anywhere, and I’m sure he feels the same,” Lamas said. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. I think this fight will really go all over the place. We’re both good wrestlers, we’re both good scramblers [and] we’re both good on our feet, so you’re going to see a little bit of everything in this fight, I think.”

Lamas has a firm grasp on the potential reward: “I think the winner of this fight is definitely the real number one contender and should get another opportunity to fight for the title.”

AL ALL THE RAGE

Al Iaquinta is on the radar in the lightweight division, though the degree of difficulty only figures to increase from here for the Serra-Longo Fight Team export.

Iaquinta will carry the momentum from a three-fight winning streak into his co-main event showdown with American Top Team vet Jorge Masvidal. The victor will almost certainly move into a higher competitive bracket at 155 pounds, and, at 27, Iaquinta appears to be peaking. Since being rendered unconscious by a Mitch Clarke brabo choke at UFC 173 a little less than a year ago, he has rattled off three straight technical knockouts against Joe Lauzon, Ross Pearson and Rodrigo Damm.

Doing the same to Masvidal would be quite a feat, considering “Gamebred” has been stopped via strikes only once in his 36-fight career.

“I have been active and improving every fight, and I work harder than anyone in this division,” Iaquinta said. “This is a fight that I can dominate in every aspect, and that is what I am training to do.”

THIS & THAT

UFC Fight Night “Mendes vs. Lamas” will be the 313th event the Ultimate Fighting Championship has staged in its history ... “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 15 winner Michael Chiesa has won eight fights by submission: six by rear-naked choke, one by brabo choke and one by triangle choke ... Julianna Pena lists Fedor Emelianenko, Nick Diaz, Matt Hughes and Dan Henderson as her heroes, per UFC.com ... Gray Maynard was a three-time NCAA All-American wrestler at Michigan State University, where he still ranks eighth on the school’s all-time list in pins (26) and 14th in wins (106) ... The nine men who have defeated Jackson-Wink MMA mainstay Clay Guida inside the Octagon -- Mendes, Maynard, Bermudez, Benson Henderson, Kenny Florian, Diego Sanchez, Roger Huerta, Tyson Griffin and Din Thomas -- own a cumulative record of 166-52-2 ... American Top Team’s Dustin Poirier will compete as a lightweight for the first time since he defeated Zachary Micklewright under the World Extreme Cagefighting banner 1,605 days ago. He went 8-3 at 145 pounds, losing only to Conor McGregor, Cub Swanson and Chan Sung Jung ... Lauren Murphy has held titles inside the Invicta Fighting Championships and Alaska Cage Fighting organizations ... Former King of the Cage champion Justin Jones graduated from San Diego State University with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice ... Dagestani heavyweight Shamil Abdurakhimov has nine first-round finishes to his credit.

INSIDE THE VENUE

Located on the campus of George Mason University, the Patriot Center opened in 1985 at a cost of $16 million. The arena is managed by Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns and operates the NBA’s Washington Wizards, the NHL’s Washington Capitals and the WNBA’s Washington Mystics.