BREAKING: Amanda Ribas All Set to Return for UFC 257

UFC 257 will take place on January 23, 2021 and will be the first UFC PPV of 2021. Currently, the only announced fight is a Woman’s Flyweight bout between Joanne Calderwood and Jessica Eye. Outside of that, the card is yet to take shape. Rumors suggest that this could be the card headlined by Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier, but it seems the card on January 13 will see them meet.

However, the UFC have added a Women’s Strawweight fight to the card, and it is a particularly exciting one. Michelle Waterson, known as ‘The Karate Hottie’ will face Amanda Ribas. Waterson is currently ranked at 6 in the Strawweight division, while Ribas is at 9. This fight will boost the winner’s chances at a title in a division currently ruled by Weili Zhang. Rose Namajunas is confirmed to be the next title challenger.

Ribas is 10-1 in her MMA career and undefeated in four fights in the UFC. She is a rising contender, while Waterson may be on a skid. She is 1-2 in her last three fights, but had a big win over Angela Hill in September in a five-round main event. Her record in MMA is 18-8 (6-4 UFC).

UFC 257 shaping up

While the card is still a few months away, the UFC needs to start furnishing this PPV sooner rather than later. The McGregor-Poirier fight headlining this show should be obvious, but there has been no official announcement on the date for that fight yet.

Dana White has already deferred on a lot of future matchmaking until the results of the US election are out. Considering the date is almost upon us, a lot of answers will come out soon.

Another contender for the main event could be Kamaru Usman and Gilbert Burns, after Usman dropped out of the UFC 256 main event. He reportedly needed a few more weeks to heal up from an injury, so it is would make sense to give them a quick rebook in January. There is no clear main event for this card, so we could have a stacked undercard. Some more meaningful contenders matches like the one between Waterson and Ribas would be perfect.