Brazilian Amanda Ribas made the most of her promotional debut, impressively submitting Emily Whitmire in the second round at UFC Minneapolis.
Amanda Ribas will be stepping into the cage for the first time since 2016 at UFC Minneapolis. The Brazilian strawweight was supposed to make her promotional debut in 2017, but a USADA violation knocked her out of action for two years. Ribas is 6-1 in her career with the lone loss coming to current UFC fighter Polyana Viana. All but one of the 25-year-old’s wins have come by stoppage.
Emily Whitmire is used to welcoming fighters back from layoffs. Her last two fights (and wins for that matter) were against Alexandra Albu, who was out of action for nearly two years beforehand, and Jamie Moyle, who was coming off a year-long layoff. “Spitfire” was just 2-1 with a win over Bellator fighter Emily Ducote when she was invited onto The Ultimate Fighter. After going 1-1 on the show, losing to eventual finalist Roxanne Modafferi, Whitmire dropped her promotional debut to Gillian Robertson before rattling off the two aforementioned wins.
Round 1
Ribas was the one that initiated the takedowns to the start off the back. She got the takedown, then used that to transition to the back of Whitmire. Ribas stayed on the body triangle for quite some time. Whitmire did eventually turn toward Ribas to get the top position. Whitmire stayed in the guard for the last minute on top of Ribas, but there was little action.
Cageside Press Scored the Round a 10-9 for Ribas
Round 2
Round two did start with more striking as Ribas landed a good combo to the body and head. Ribas would eventually pull Whitmire down to the mat. Like round one, Ribas got the back, but this time was able to finish with the rear-naked choke.
Amanda Ribas def. Emily Whitmire by Submission (rear-naked choke) in Round 2 (2:10)
No Octagon jitters for @amandaribasufc 😬 #UFCMinnesota pic.twitter.com/giDwc8fuVc
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) June 29, 2019
