Amanda Ribas’ journey towards the title fight, at 115 pounds, was a serious obstacle on Saturday at UFC 257 in Abu Dhabi. Despite entering as a big favorite in this main pay-per-view card fight among the top ten strawweight women, Ribas (10-2) suffered his first defeat in five UFC appearances, when he was prevented by a technical knockout in the second round by his Brazilian colleague Marina Rodriguez (13-1-2).
Ribas entered the fight with great enthusiasm and momentum thanks to Paige VanZant’s stoppage in the first flyweight assault last July. Ribas, 27, a fighter much loved for her cheerful personality, saw the tide turn quickly after controlling the initial assault on the ground.
Rodriguez, 33, hit Ribas with a right cross to the chin that made her uncomfortable. Ribas continued to punch when Rodriguez threw a series of straight hands on the ground when referee Herb Dean seemed close to stopping him.
But while Dean hovered over him, Rodriguez stood up and started celebrating prematurely before Dean actually stopped the fight. Rodriguez briefly turned his back on the action before realizing what happened. She ran through the cage to give a standing squeeze to Ribas still injured.
“I saw that the fight was ending, she didn’t move and the referee came in with open arms, so I walked away,” said Rodriguez after the fight. “I didn’t need to hit her anymore, but when I looked around, there were different screams in the crowd, no one was coming in, so I had to go back there and finish her off again.
“I knew I needed to hit her more in the second round and when I hit some punches, I saw that she was shaken and that she really felt it, so I knew that was what I needed to do to finish.”
A short elbow and a pair of straight hands in a row from Rodriguez forced Dean to stop the fight at 54 seconds, while both were still standing.
“Guys, now you know who I am!” an excited Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez was not only an underdog at +260 bets, but the odds were +1200 that she would knock him out. She has improved to 4-1-1 since her UFC debut in 2018, after a TKO victory in the “Dana White Contender Series”.
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