A battle of ranked strawweights and fellow Brazilians Amanda Ribas and Tabatha Ricci played out at UFC Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
Ribas sat at #7 in the UFC’s 115lb division, Ricci at #10.
It was less than a minute in when Ribas landed her first takedown of the fight, thought Ricci was quickly back up, reversing and putting Ribas on the fence. The pair would stay in that position for a while, Ricci driving into the thighs with her knees, then changing levels, looking for a double-leg takedown, then a trip, neither of which Ribas was about to allow. After a couple of warning from the ref, the action was halted, Ribas and Ricci reset and restarted in the center of the cage. Two minutes remained on the clock, and Ricci pressured, taking Ribas back to the very same position.
In round two, Ricci went right back to the same game plan, and this time, the approach worked. Ricci, unable to land the takedown, began firing elbows, a trio of them. The third elbow saw Ribas slump over, opening up the patch to the takedown for Tabatha Ricci. Once Ricci had the fight down, she added in a little ground n’ pound. Ribas, hurt, was covering up and not defending, leading to the ref to wave it off! A TKO win for the “Baby Shark” Tabatha Ricci, after losing to Yan Xiaonan last time out.
Official Result: Tabatha Ricci def. Amanda Ribas by TKO, Round 2, 2:59
