WINNIPEG – Featherweight Josh Emmett made an emphatic statement with a brutal knockout of onetime title challenger Ricardo Lamas at UFC on FOX 26.

Emmett (13-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) is willing to do it again if Lamas (18-6 MMA, 9-4 UFC) is game – and the UFC somehow consents to an immediate rematch. He just won’t do it on short notice.

Emmett seemed to sense he owed Lamas one for accepting a fight with him, despite the fact that he missed weight for Saturday’s co-headliner at Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He said he’ll grant an immediate rematch to repay Lamas.

“Of course,” Emmett told MMAjunkie after his first-round finish, which aired live on FOX. “He did this for me. He didn’t have to take this fight. He is one of the best guys in the world. He could have sat back and waited for the winner of (Frankie) Edgar (vs. Max) Holloway fight and then get a title shot, or fight (Brian) Ortega, and the winner of that get a title fight. I’m truly grateful for him accepting the fight, as well as with me missing the weight.”

It wasn’t as though Lamas received no consideration for Emmett’s error. A 30 percent fine came with his miss at the scale, which is 10 percent higher than the usual penalty.

As Emmett pointed out, he also became ineligible to win a $50,000 UFC performance bonus, which he almost surely would have won for his highlight-reel knockout.

“I think I paid the price for that,” he said. “But if there’s an exception that the UFC or (UFC President) Dana White could do, I’ll gladly take that $50,000 bonus. It’s Christmas coming up.”

Still, Emmett’s win was quite the present. The major lesson moving forward, he said, is that he can’t fight on short notice.

Emmett got the call to face Lamas on three weeks’ notice when Lamas’ original opponent, ex-champ Jose Aldo, was pulled from the event to replace the injured Edgar opposite champ Holloway at UFC 218.

“I’ll take four to five weeks out,” Emmett said. “So like I said before, I apologize for not making weight. I was right on track, and just with the timeframe I had left, I knew there was no possible way that I could make (weight) within that time. I just stopped sweating.

“I didn’t have enough time to water load. I just messed up, but I take credit for it, and it won’t happen again.”

What didn’t surprise Emmett was the outcome in the octagon. He came into the bout confident in his abilities despite his status as a major underdog. Many fans were vocal about their doubts, yet he remained convinced he could pull off the upset.

“I knew I would beat him if I just (landed) one punch, like I’d been saying,” he said. “A lot of these naysayers and haters out there were saying I’d never landed a clean punch, but hey, I guess I found it today.”

For complete coverage of UFC on FOX 26, check out the UFC Events section of the site.