Anyone who follows the UFC rankings updates will have noticed that the fighter Amanda ribas gained a position in the strawweight category (up to 52,1 kg). The Minas Gerais native from Varginha, 'Terra do ET', went from eighth to seventh place after the defeat of Iasmin Lucindo to her namesake Amanda lemos No. UFC 313, which took place last Saturday (8). The change in the ranking was celebrated by her and the team, but with their feet on the ground. After all, for the first time since joining the organization, Ribas has accumulated two consecutive defeats.
The last of these was in the rematch against the also Brazilian, born in the USA, Mackenzie dern. In the first fight between them, in 2019, Amanda came out on top, winning by unanimous decision. But in the second duel, in January of this year, the Minas Gerais native was surprised in the third round and ended up being submitted by Dern. Two months after the defeat, Amanda spoke with SUPER FIGHTS in an exclusive interview this Thursday (13).
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“Ah, every time there’s a UFC, I already know that there’s going to be some change in the rankings, right? And when I see that the change was a good thing for me, I’m very happy. It’s very exciting. Not only to be in the UFC, but to be in the rankings and even more so among the top 10, right? Seven tops exactly,” reveals the Minas Gerais native.
However, another change was noted in the UFC rankings. Earlier this year, Amanda ribas She was ranked 8th in the strawweight division and 10th in the flyweight division (up to 56,7 kg), a category in which she also fought. But now, the Brazilian has disappeared from the 56,7 kg division. This, according to her, is a choice that was discussed with the organization.
“Yes, this change had something to do with it. We talked to the UFC and from now on I will focus on strawweight, which is where I feel strongest,” he explains.
Social media phenomenon
Amanda ribas is the Brazilian UFC athlete with the most followers on Instagram
Speaking of disappearing, Amanda also commented on a habit she has in the months leading up to her fights. She 'blocks' her cell phone to stop responding to messages on 'WhatsApp' and 'Instagram'. This is a way she found to stay focused on her commitment in the octagon, without distractions. So the press, the manager, and if you're not careful, even the president of the UFC, Dana White, have to resort to her father, Marcelo Ribas, to get in touch with her.
“I disappear, I still do that today. It’s funny, because I post a lot on social media, but I don’t really like it. Because I was posting too much, then I realized it was doing harm, so I set aside an hour a day to start responding, but sometimes I don’t have time to respond to everyone. On social media, I have people who respond, but on WhatsApp I respond myself, so I really take my time to respond, especially when it’s close to a fight, I disappear. This is so I can have some peace of mind, a time to meet with myself, with the people who are here by my side. You start responding to a message and you want to respond to everything, right? If you don’t schedule the time right, then I start going crazy. My manager wants to kill me, sometimes he even wants to talk to me about important things, he’ll talk to my father and my father will talk to me,” she explains.
Despite this certain distance in times that require concentration, Amanda ribas is the Brazilian UFC athlete with the most followers on 'Instagram'. In total, she has 2,2 million fans. She even surpasses the profiles of famous fighters, such as her namesake, the former UFC champion Amanda nunes, who has 1,7 million followers, and comes close to the strawweight champion Valentina Shevchenko, which has 2,7 million fans.
“I have a team that works for me to help me respond to messages. Two million people is a lot. And when we have a fight, advertising or partnerships, then it’s incredible the number of followers increases,” he says.
Mackenzie dern
Amanda ribas greets the daughter of Mackenzie dern after defeat at UFC Vegas 101. Photo: UFC
In the interview, Amanda ribas commented on his rivalry with Mackenzie dern. He told us how he felt after the defeat and what he thinks about a possible trilogy in the match that now has one victory on each side.
“I take a week to study, see what I did wrong and what I did right, but I don’t stay longer than that, otherwise you’ll go crazy. And I wasn’t in the fight, not to take anything away from Mackenzie, because she fought well, we had studied her and she did very well, but I wasn’t in the fight, I couldn’t kick properly, I wasn’t in the fight, it was totally her day. I think it was her turn to win, because I had trained a lot, so it was something that happened, unfortunately. (I was) angry. I went back to training with the goal of winning. I think that’s one of the motivations, that every athlete has this desire to win the next fight when they’re coming off a loss. There are some athletes who were already asking for (a trilogy), the UFC offering it, I’m here for whoever offers it to us”, he says.
Amanda Ribas Institute
The fighter from Minas Gerais commented on her social project that helps children and teenagers at risk. The 'Instituto Amanda ribas' aims to use martial arts to show another path that is often camouflaged by drug trafficking.
“There are free classes for children, there is a branch at the gym (in Varginha) and also a branch at the church I attend. And my focus is not on making professional athletes, my focus is on making good citizens, you know? Because nowadays my main adversary at the institute is the cell phone, because getting kids off the cell phone is complicated and the cell phone is already studied, right? That it is the cell phone that sometimes causes depression, anxiety, all the bad things are there. And also on the streets nowadays, the kids don't go. It's very difficult, because sometimes you can lose the child to a drug dealer, right? And adopt them there and that's it.
So we say that the mat is the modern street. That there you can play, learn to win, learn to lose, learn to respect, learn the limits. And if you want, if you have the ability and can train seriously, you can indeed be a professional athlete. But my focus is to be a good citizen”, he explains.
Next fight and new project
Amanda ribas is expected to return to the UFC octagon in July. Photo: UFC Reproduction
Amanda ribas explained that she needed to space out the interval between her fights more to be able to rest her body and also reconcile it with commitments outside the octagon. She doesn't have a fight scheduled yet, but she's already making a projection for the year 2025.
“I was fighting one fight after another, I didn’t have time to recover my body, to adjust my things as well. So I took this time to recover my body mentally, to take care of my health as well, which I hadn’t been taking care of. I think I should fight in July, more or less. It’s close, it will be in the strawweight division,” he says.
She also showed first hand to the SUPER FIGHTS your new project: a podcast studio.
“It’s a small room where I’m going to start filming and commenting on fights, doing fight reactions or sometimes I’ll invite guests, like a podcast. It’s still being transformed, I’m going to decorate it with items that I’ve used in UFC fights,” he reveals.
To check out the full interview, including more topics, just watch the video that opens the report above.
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