Body transformations don’t come more dramatic than what UFC light heavyweight Caio Machado has done cutting down from heavyweight, and his first test was Brendson Ribeiro at UFC Edmonton on Saturday night.
Machado (8-3-1) made his UFC light heavyweight debut against Ribeiro at UFC Edmonton. The former heavyweight came into the fight on a two-fight losing skid dropping both of his UFC fights. The DWCS contract winner made the move to 205 looking to get his career back on track.
Ribeiro (15-7) came into the fight having dropped his last two fights both in 2024. A victory over Machado would buy him time to get things in order and likely save his spot on the roster.
Round 1 both men came out cautious and throwing kicks to the legs and body. Machado continued to send high attacks, but Ribeiro did well to block the attempts. Machado continued to fire off up high, but Ribeiro stayed calm and patient leaning back or blocking attacks.
Ribeiro did land a big right hand that drew a smile out of Machado, but didn’t change the pace of the round.
Round 2 didn’t change very much except for Machado opting to go to the body with the kicks and follow them with hands up top. Ribeiro still wasn’t cutting the cage off whatsoever which served Machado just fine. Machado seemed to be trying to stick and move, Ribeiro continued to follow him around, and that took a lot of power off his shots.
To be honest this fight really felt like a sparring session from the start.
Round 3 more of the same. Ribeiro chasing, Machado avoiding, and just getting out of the way of strikes. Until Ribeiro landed a big right hand rocked Machado which caused him to fire right back. That was about as exciting as the fight got.
Official Result: Brendson Ribeiro def. Caio Machado via Split-Decision (29-28×2, 28-29)
