Amanda Ribas praised opponent Marina Rodriguez following her first Octagon defeat at UFC 257.
UFC strawweight prospect Amanda Ribas is trying to digest her first Octagon loss in the best way she can. After getting knocked out by Marina Rodriguez at UFC 257, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu and judo blackbelt does not want to make any excuses for her defeat, but promises the loss will not take away her motivation to get to the top.
In an interview with Combate, Amanda called the punch that put her away the perfect shot, praising Marina’s accuracy and timing to pull it off. Despite the result, Ribas still thinks she did well in the first round of the fight, while even pointing a missed opportunity for a submission.
“She found the perfect shot. I won’t even say I won the first round. She won the fight, it doesn’t matter what happened before. I told this to some of my judo friends. It’s no use if you can pull off an osoto gari or an uchi mata if they come back and ippon you. It’s the perfect shot.”
“I’ve rewatched the fight.” Amanda continued. “At that moment, I didn’t even know what happened. I tried to take Marina down, but I was already out. I think I did well in the first round, but rewatching the fight I noticed that when I was going for the neck, she gave me some space and I could’ve tried a different submission.”
Disappoiting as the knockout loss was for Amanda, the judo blackbelt is not just sad about the defeat. The reason why Ribas stayed on the feet against a superior striker was to show she was a well-rounded fighter who could handle a muay thai specialist. However, Amanda was let down when things did not go as expect.
“I already had the ‘no.’ Everyone thought my Muay Thai was no good, so I went after the ‘yes’. I couldn’t get it. I don’t want to be a mediocre fighter. I want to show I can be really good anywhere. I’ll work to get there. I haven’t spoken with Marina after that. I don’t know what it was like for Marina (to deal with the hype), but I really tried to capitalize on it. I said Conor would be the cherry and I would be the chocolate cake.”
The loss to Rodriguez marked Ribas’ (10-2) first loss in the UFC. Before that, the 27-year-old was on a four-fight winning streak in the promotion, with victories over Emily Whitmire, Mackenzie Dern, Randa Markos and Paige Vanzant.