Free Fight! Rodriguez Stops Ribas On ‘Fight Island’

After four straight wins, Marina Rodriguez should have stamped her one-way ticket to a title fight by now, instead she will have to pick up one more win in order to do so. She will look to do that this Saturday night (Nov. 5, 2022) when she takes on Amanda Lemos in the main event of UFC Vegas 64 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Before then, let’s take a look back at the lone finish she scored during her hot win streak, which came against Amanda Ribas at UFC 257 in Jan. 2021 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, otherwise known as “Fight Island.”

As usual, Ribas came out the aggressor, looking to push the pace and impose her will early on. After all, the Brazilian standout was the talk of the women’s Strawweight division because she had won her first four fights inside the Octagon, which included huge victories over Mackenzie Dern and Paige VanZant.

Ribas scored an early takedown in round one, and attempted several submission attempts but Rodriguez’s defense was on point. Still, Ribas did enough to win the opening round after softening up her foe with several shots to the body while in top position.

Early in round two, however, Rodriguez tagged Ribas with a laser-like right hand that dropped her to the canvas. As she was trying to recover, Ribas ate another right hand from Rodriguez, who continued to pile on the punishment.

Then it got a bit crazy.

Rodriguez stopped punching assuming the fight was over, though referee Herb Dean never actually stepped into to stop the action. Rodriguez started pointing and Dean once on the feet, telling him it should have been stopped. Undeterred, she went back to work and connected with a huge elbow to the chin that stunned her foe. After another solid right hand that crack Ribas’ chin, Dean stepped in to put an end to the fight.

The win got Rodriguez back in the win column after coming up short against current division champion, Carla Esparza, six months prior. Since then, Rodriguez has stayed hot and is seemingly one more win away from getting to the big dance. She has a tough task ahead of her in Lemos, who is coming off a submission win over Michelle Waterson.

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