Highlights! Thug Rose Scores First Flyweight Win

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Flyweights Rose Namajunas and Amanda Ribas clashed earlier tonight (Sat. March 23, 2024) live on ESPN inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. RESULT

Ribas started the fight pretty well. Using kicks, movement, and awkward punches, she was able to avoid a boxing match while staying active. She also landed a takedown! When Ribas went for a headlock throw, however, Namajunas was easily able to roll into top position and control her until the end of the round.

Namajunas started finding more consistent success with her hands in the second, leading with straights to the body and head. Ribas, however, continued to do good work with distance kicks and clinch strikes. For the second time, she hampered herself by giving up top position attempting a headlock throw.

“Thug Rose” seemed to really have her opponent’s timing to start the third. She was evading Ribas’ kicks well and occasionally sticking her with punches. However, it didn’t feel like Namajunas was fully committing to her strikes, because none of those shots were bothering Ribas. When the two wrestled late in the round, this time it was Ribas who landed in top position, and she finished the round with authority by landing hard shots and advancing position.

Sadly, the fourth saw Ribas throw away control by attempting yet another bad headlock throw then attempt a rolling kneebar when it failed. She was doing well enough on the feet early but spent most of the round on bottom because of that mistake. Fortunately, she didn’t make the same error in the fifth, winning that round clearly as a result.

The scorecards were entirely up in the air as the judges rendered their decision. On one hand, Namajunas did rack up a lot of control time and land some accurate punches. At the same time, Ribas threw and landed a lot more, and it’s not like she took many strikes while on her back.

Ultimately, the judges sided with Rose Namajunas via unanimous decision.

Check out some highlight clips below:

It’s a good win for Namajunas, one that introduces her into the Flyweight Top 10. However, there are definitely things to improve moving forward, as her volume has to increase if she’s going to contend at 125 lbs.

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