Las Vegas — Brazilian strawweight Amanda Ribas headlines the first event of 2025 for the UFC, her second main event spot overall for the company and coincidentally one featuring her second fight against BJJ standout Mackenzie Dern.
The fight also marks the end of a ten-month layoff for Ribas (13-5), a sort of mini-vacation from the sport that was very much intentional.
“That was a strategy of my team, because I was getting a lot of fights. And this was good for me, recovering my body, and for recovering that feeling,” Ribas told media outlets including Cageside Press at Wednesday’s UFC Vegas 101 media day on Wednesday. “I missed fighting, I love fighting. My last fight was in March, so I still think ten months without a fight, [I was like] ‘oh my goodness, I need to fight, I need to fight.'”
“I think this point [made] me more dangerous,” Ribas said, adding “I’m not just hungry outside the cage now, but I will be hungry inside the cage too.”
Amanda Ribas had her first fight against Dern back in 2019, earning a unanimous decision as a relative newcomer to the promotion.
“That was my second fight in the UFC, and I know now I’m more experienced as an athlete, as a person too. I know she’s more experienced too, I know she’s training her boxing,” noted Ribas on the fight, and time that has passed since. “It will be awesome, not just for us. I know this fight is really important because we both won against Virna [Jandiroba], and she’s number three.”
“I think if I win, if God blesses me with the win, I think I can go to the top.”
Ribas is fully excited at the prospect of her second UFC main event. “Really excited, as she put it. “Really, really because it’s a dream come true. I think all fighters want to see their face there. And saw last year, I will start the year seeing this. So I’m really excited.”
Excitement also comes from having a high-profile match-up stick together. Ribas has seen fights with Michelle-Waterson Gomez and Tracy Cortez fall through in the past, in addition to other names.
“Yes, it is frustrating when we miss a fight. But I’m blessed, really. There’s some things that happened in my life that is just from him [God], and I know he has a plan for my life. If my fight didn’t happen, it’s because there is a plan. In the beginning I didn’t understand too much, but I trust [in him]].”
Watch the full UFC Vegas 101 media day appearance by Amanda Ribas above.
