SAN ANTONIO – Two weeks after he had a long-awaited return yanked out from under him, Austin Lingo is ready to get back to work.
Lingo was set to take on Ricardo Ramos at UFC Fight Night 221 in Las Vegas earlier this month, but Ramos missed weight badly enough that the fight was canceled the day before. That left Lingo at the alter when he was hoping to get back in the cage for the first time since August 2021.
Fortunately for the featherweight, he didn’t have to wait too much longer. Lingo (9-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) will take on Nate Landwehr (16-4 MMA, 3-2 UFC) in a featured bout Saturday at UFC on ESPN 43 at AT&T Center in San Antonio. The main card airs on ESPN following prelims on ESPN+.
“I had two injuries last year, so that set me back a little bit,” Lingo said at Wednesday’s UFC on ESPN 43 media day. “It wasn’t long-term injuries, so I wasn’t too beat up about it. No surgery, thank God, but I did rehab a lot throughout the year and got it done.”
The long layoff wasn’t something that did Lingo any favors to build on the momentum of his back-to-back wins after a loss in his promotional debut in February 2020. He said he hopes for three or four fights in 2023 to help make up for it.
In Landwehr, he gets a tough opponent on short notice when he steps in to replace Landwehr’s original opponent, Alex Caceres.
“He’s (good at) everything, and he’s pretty good on the ground,” Lingo said. “I’m good at all that stuff, too, so it’s going to be a good fight – meet in the middle and let’s see who’s better. I see the first round, just feeling it out. One of us might land a head (shot) or might land a heavy blow – see how it goes from there.
“I’ve seen him and I’ve seen him fight, and I definitely wanted to fight a guy that’s (like him) – he’s got the same style, same everything. It was definitely somebody that was on my radar.”
Check out Lingo’s full media day interview in the video above.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 43.
