Athletes
Amanda Ribas Zeroes In On Strawweight Title
Top 10 Strawweight And Flyweight Contender Sees Win Over Dern At UFC Fight Night: Dern vs Ribas 2 As A Pivotal Step Toward Gold
Since joining the UFC roster in 2019, Amanda Ribas has found success competing in the strawweight and flyweight divisions and finds herself ranked within the Top 10 at both weights at the start of 2025.
A true fighter at heart, Ribas accepts every fight offered to her, regardless of opponent or weight division. That was until an opportunity came along to headline her second straight fight on the first card of the new year at strawweight.
“I love to fight,” Ribas said. “This time without fighting was hard because I love to fight. Always when UFC offers me a really good opportunity to fight at 125, I get it because they always offer me Katlyn [Cerminara], Maycee Barber, Paige VanZant, Viviane [Araujo], huge names and I can’t say no. But my focus is now in 115 because I know it’s my weight division and I’m closer to the belt.”
Currently ranked No. 8 at 115 pounds, Ribas can take a pivotal step toward the Top 5 if she can collect her second win over No. 6 ranked contender Mackenzie Dern at UFC Fight Night: Dern vs Ribas 2 on January 11.
The two were originally scheduled to compete in a three-round bout on the final card of 2024, but it was rescheduled one month later for a five-round showdown at UFC APEX.
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“It was good for me,” Ribas said of the fight being rescheduled. “I think this put more like that feeling, ‘I want to fight.’ My last fight was last year, in March, and I took a long time to rest my body and to miss this feeling to want to fight, so now almost one month later, it puts me harder on that.”
Ribas was itching to fight anyone, anywhere, having last competed in March when she suffered a defeat to former strawweight champion Rose Namajunas. Not only is she days away from stepping back inside the Octagon, but she’s on the cusp of adding her name to a shortlist of potential title contenders.
Full Fight | Amanda Ribas vs Luana Pinheiro
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Full Fight | Amanda Ribas vs Luana Pinheiro
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Currently in the Top 5 sits Amanda Lemos and Jéssica Andrade, who’ve already faced strawweight champion Zhang Weili in title fights, Virna Jandiroba, who Ribas holds a win over, Yan Xiaonan, who Zhang most recently defended her title against, and Tatiana Suarez, who earns her crack at the title one month from now at UFC 312.
“It’s really important for me [to win] this fight,” Ribas said. “If I beat her, I can go to the top, because we both won one over Virna Jandiroba and she’s No. 3, so I think this fight and maybe one more I can go to the belt because I’m coming from two victories in the strawweight division.”
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The next step toward that ultimate goal is defeating Dern, a familiar foe she shared the Octagon with in 2019. Ribas was the better woman that night, stuffing 100 percent of Dern’s takedowns while out striking her by a large margin.
While Ribas isn’t taking too much away from that first performance, considering how much she’s evolved as a fighter over these last five years, she’s hoping to see a similar, yet more dominant, result when they get locked in the Octagon this Saturday.
“I’ve been in competition since I was a baby, so I learned that one fight is one fight, we can’t compare,” Ribas said. “As a fighter, I know one day in the gym I am one, another day I am another one, so I prepare for the best version of her at all times because I am at my best version.
“I know she got better in boxing, and I know I’m better mentally, I’m more experienced and I know I can prove more in my striking, too.”
UFC Fight Night: Dern vs Ribas 2 took place live from UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 11, 2025. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!