When Amanda Ribas found out she would fight Rose Namajunas in the main event of a UFC card, as she is on UFC Fight Night Vegas 89 on March 23, she was incredulous. The Brazilian said that if anyone had told her 5 years ago (when she was serving a 2-year ban) that she would be headlining, she wouldn’t have believed it! However, with ‘Thug Rose’ having moved up to flyweight after an illustrious stint at strawweight but losing her 1st fight to Marion Fiorot, Ribas finds herself in a pretty sweet spot. A win likely puts her in the title mix. One of the important parts of her road to the UFC has been her family, many of whom are martial artists, like her elder brother, Arthur Ribas.

Is Amanda Ribas’ brother an MMA fighter?

Amanda Ribas took up martial arts at a very young age. The Brazilian’s father was a judo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructor and she trained under him until she was part of one of Brazil’s national judo youth teams. However, she and her father are not the only fighters as her elder brother, Arthur Ribas competed at welterweight.

Arthur has been an integral part of Amanda’s martial arts career and is officially part of her team, serving as the conditioning coach for his sister. The elder Ribas has a professional record of 6-1 and fought, for the most part, in Brazilian promotions.

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Arthur last fought in 2015, a Ground & Pound loss to Alvaro Correa, his 1st professional loss. The Brazilian has not fought since then. Although he expressed interest in returning to the cage in 2020 and even signed with Taura MMA, he has yet to debut for the Brazil-based promotion.

Ribas has a sister named Marcelly, who is an actress, and a brother named Marcelo, who took after their father and is a martial arts coach. Given her intimate connections to MA, it isn’t surprising to see Amanda fight in a consequential headliner that may take her to the next level.

Amanda Ribas, an interesting stylistic matchup to Namajunas

Rose Namajunas is hoping to fight for the flyweight title by the end of this year, the former Strawweight champion said in a recent interview. As she lost her first fight in the division, her record would be 1-1 at strawweight if she won her next fight, and likely become the #1 title contender if she defeated Amanda Ribas. However, Ribas is in a similar position and is 3-3 in her last six fights.

A win against Namajunas would help raise her profile and may see her get into the title mix. While both fighters have been inconsistent over the past few years, their stylistic matchup is an interesting one. While Ribas holds a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and is known for her aggressive fighting style, she is going against a world-class striker in ‘Thug Rose’, who can use this aggression against her.

Of course, a lot depends on which version of Namajunas walks into the octagon on March 23, as her past few fights have been pretty underwhelming and a far cry from, say, her past performances against Weili Zhang. Who do you think will win in their bout?

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