Amanda Ribas vs. Angela Hill strawweight bout did not take long to find a new date.
Amanda Ribas will be facing Angela Hill on June 5th after their fight got canceled just hours before UFC Vegas 26 was about to start this past weekend. Their bout is expected to take place at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas on a UFC Fight Night card. The news was initially reported by MMA journalist Marcel Dorff.
Just hours before the event was about to start, Ribas was forced to withdraw from the contest after testing positive for COVID-19. However the Brazilian expressed through her Instagram that she believed her case to be a false positive after showing no symptoms.
Hill, on the other hand, expressed interest on Twitter to fight in two weeks possibly on May 22nd however with the recent news it looks like she’ll have to wait a little longer for her bout.
Amanda Ribas
Currently ranked #11, Amanda Ribas (10-2) is coming off her only loss in the UFC promotion after suffering a brutal TKO finish at the hands of Marina Rodriguez. The Brazilian had not lost for 6 years before her last fight. Prior to the loss Ribas collected four wins in the UFC defeating the likes of Emily Whitmire, Mackenzie Dern, Randa Markos and Paige Vanzant.
A black belt in both Judo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Ribas is highly skilled on the ground with four submission wins throughout her career. She is the former Jungle Fight strawweight champion and Max Fight strawweight champion, the latter which she captured in 2016.
Ribas did not compete in MMA professionally for three years after being given a two-year suspension in 2017 from USADA for banned substances. She returned in 2019 straight into the UFC and won four bouts on the trot before her most recent loss.
Angela Hill
After falling short on back-to-back split decision losses to Claudia Gadelha and Michelle Waterson in the latter part of 2020, Hill (13-9) found herself back in the winning column when the American bested Ashley Yoder in a unanimous decision win back in March this year.
The two split decision losses were controversial since many fans and media outlets believed Hill to have won both. Currently ranked #12 in the division, had the split decision losses turned in her favour, she would easily be ranked inside the top 10.
Hill was Invicta strawweight champion when she defeated Lívia Renata Souza in 2016 and then went on to defend the belt against Kaline Medeiros later that year. She is also the first African-American woman to headline a UFC card when she fought Waterson in 2020 and the first African-American woman to be signed to the UFC.
Fight Card
With the rebooking of the strawweight bout, the UFC Fight Night on June 5th currently includes:
- Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Augusto Sakai
- Muslim Salikhov vs. Francisco Trinaldo
- Walt Harris vs. Marcin Tybura
- Angela Hill vs. Amanda Ribas
- Tanner Boser vs. Ilir Latifi
- Manon Fiorot vs. Maryna Moroz
- Sean Woodson vs. Youssef Zalal
- Montana De La Rosa vs. Ariane Lipski
- Maki Pitolo vs. Dusko Todorovic
- Alessio Di Chirico vs. Roman Dolidze
- Miguel Baeza vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio
- Antonio Arroyo vs. Tom Breese
- Mason Jones vs. Alan Patrick
- Jordan Leavitt vs. Claudio Puelles
- Makwan Amirkhani vs. Nate Landwehr
Who do you have winning for this exciting strawweight contender matchup?
