Amanda Ribas’ father is glad his daughter took an elbow to the eye socket from Tabitha Ricci at UFC Abu Dhabi that led to a TKO loss.
That’s because it also led to a titanium plate above her eye breaking, which led to doctors realizing it was the cause of a number of health problems Ribas has been suffering through for years.
Marcelo Ribas is both Amanda’s father and coach, and discussed the loss to Ricci at UFC on ABC: Whittaker vs. de Ridder with MMA Fighting’s Guilherme Cruz. He says Amanda hasn’t
been the same since a titanium plate installed following an orbital bone break in June 2023 got knocked askew five months later when Ribas fought Luana Pinheiro.
Barber stops Ribas in a bloodbath
— Lewis Simpson (@LewisSimpsonMMA) June 24, 2023
pic.twitter.com/LM18j0tqPM
Tabatha Ricci stops Amanda Ribas!!pic.twitter.com/GP0r5mrscV
— MMA Mania (@mmamania) July 26, 2025
“The old plate was dislocated in the Luana Pinheiro fight,” her father said. “And Amanda was experiencing faints, severe pain and even seizures [since]. She almost couldn’t train since the Luana fight.”
“[Amanda] was doing psychiatric and psychological treatment thinking that was [the problem],” he added. “And if it wasn’t for the elbow [from Ricci], maybe we wouldn’t have found out.”
“It’s God, brother. Thank God we discovered what was causing the pains, faints and seizures since the Luana fight.”
Ribas came into the UFC with a lot of hype in 2016 and went 6-2 over her first 8 before Maycee Barber broke her eye socket. Since then she’s been 1-3 and apparently struggling to just get into the cage and compete.
Let’s hope this health revelation turns things around for her ... eventually, when she comes back from fixing her orbital properly.
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