Kicking off the main card tomorrow night at UFC Vegas 26 is a pivotal matchup in the strawweight division. Fringe top ten contenders will go head-to-head as 11th ranked Amanda Ribas (10-2) takes on 12th ranked Angela Hill (13-9).
Ribas will be looking to bounce back after her first UFC loss in her last time out. Amanda Ribas looked like she was on the fast track to stardom. She had the personality, the look, and the skill to be someone the UFC could really market.
Ribas started out 4-0 inside the octagon win wins over the likes of Mackenzie Dern and Paige VanZant. At UFC 257, the promotion put her against Marina Rodriguez. In the first round, Ribas had success when taking the fight to the ground.
However, in the second round she was knocked out by the striking of Rodriguez. It was a really tough loss for Ribas and the road isn’t going to be easy getting back. Especially with a challenge like Angela Hill in front of her.
Back in June of 2019, Angela Hill lost a unanimous decision to Yan Xiaonan. Since that fight, she has looked completely different. Hill went on a three-fight win streak before losing two tough split decisions to Claudia Gadelha and Michelle Waterson.
A lot of people believe she won both of those fights. Those decisions go her way and Hill could be challenging for the UFC title. She bounced back in March with a dominant win over Ashley Yoder.
UFC Vegas 26 Prediction
To me, this UFC Vegas 26 strawweight contest is going to come down to distance. Amanda Ribas has to keep this fight in close and she needs to use her grappling. I believe in the clinch and on the ground she’s going to have a big advantage.
While Angela Hill has made some improvements, we’ve seen her get submitted before. Ribas definitely has the ground skills to get this done on the mat. On the feet however, I think Hill is going to have the striking advantage.
We’ve seen over her last couple of UFC matchups how good Hill can be from range. If she can keep Ribas off of her, she’s going to find some success from range. If she can, she’s going to win a decision tomorrow night.
Now, what do I think is going to happen? Well, I’m not off the Ribas hype train just yet. I think this fight is going to be incredibly competitive, but I like the grappling of Ribas here. I think she can avoid serious danger on the feet and she’ll get enough control to win a decision here.
Prediction: Amanda Ribas by Unanimous Decision