Newark, NJ — Claudio Ribeiro was well-prepared for his UFC 288 card-opener against Joseph Holmes on Saturday.
In particular, the Brazilian fully expected “Ugly Man Joe” to fake with his right, leading to an overhand on the opposite side. “This is something we trained a lot, this is something we prepared for,” Ribeiro (11-3) told media outlets including Cageside Press following the fight.
“We expected him to fake a right and come in with the overhand, or the left. I had five minutes to finish him in the first round, unfortunately couldn’t do it. But we kept work at it, and second round, knockout came.”
The end of the opening round saw Holmes down and covering up in a near finish that had him saved by the bell. Asked whether he thought his opponent was done then and there, Ribeiro replied saying that “I’m not a man to say that kind of stuff, but time was up. And when time is up, that’s what you can do. Second round, went out there and got him.”
The feeling of getting his first win, and first finish, in the promotion, meanwhile, had Claudio Ribeiro feeling “sky high” in the aftermath.
“Such a good energy. It puts us way up there, sky high.” Ribeiro noted that he didn’t have a good camp for his first fight in the UFC. “I didn’t feel confident in the first one, so it was very important to me to come out and do it. And this is what I said: ‘standing, ground, it doesn’t matter. We’re going to do it.’ When I looked up there and I saw it was a numbered PPV in the UFC, I said ‘I’m going to do it, I’m going to put on a show for you guys.'”
Ask for a callout, Ribeiro said simply that “I’m not a man to choose opponents. Whoever the UFC puts in front of me, I’m here. Let them know that Clau-Clau’s here, and I’m up for it. Dana [White], send me some people.”
The 30-year old would like to stay busy, however. “Two more, three more,” Ribeiro said, adding he expects more quick knockouts. “Might as well.”
Watch the full UFC 288 post-fight press conference with Claudio Ribeiro above.
