Women’s strawwweight contenders Amanda Ribas and Tabatha Ricci met on the UFC Abu Dhabi preliminary fight card on Saturday.
Ribas entered the fight ranked No. 7 in the division but coming off back-to-back losses. She’s bounced between the flyweight and strawweight divisions in recent years but has struggled to put together consecutive wins.
Ricci had a two-fight winning streak snapped in her last fight, losing to former title challenger Yan Xiaonan via decision. Ranked No. 10 in the weight class, Ricci was looking to move up in the rankings and get back in the win column.
Ricci pressed forward as Ribas worked to establish her jab early in the opening round. Ricci clinched but was hip tossed to the canvas. She worked her way back to her feet and delivered short punches inside the clinch. The referee separated them although Ricci was active. Ribas went back to throwing her jab. Ricci drove forward after absorbing a leg kick and pressed Ribas against the cage. Ribas tripped Ricci to the ground and circled away. Ribas connected with a counter right hand. MMAWeekly scored the opening round 10-9 for Ricci.
Ribas worked on the outside and landed a leg kick. She used her reach to keep Ricci at distance. Ricci closed the distance and clinched. They exchanged knees to the body and short punches. Ricci landed a hard elbow. Her corner called for her to do it again. She did. She took Ribas down and hammered away until the referee stopped the fight. The elbow hurt Ribas.
The official time of the TKO stoppage was 2:59 of the second round.
