How hard did Tabatha Ricci hit Amanda Ribas with that elbow that crumpled her to the canvas and led to her defeat? Hard enough that Ribas will have to have surgery (watch the highlights here).
Ricci finished the larger Ribas at 2:59 of the second round of their UFC on ABC: Whittaker vs. de Ridder fight in Abu Dhabi, sending Ribas to the hospital with two other fighters from the event.
“I’m going to have surgery soon, on top of the one I already had on my facial bone,” she wrote on her Instagram account.
Ribas underwent surgery for a broken orbital following her June 2023 loss to Maycee Barber, and still has a metal plate from the incident.
Tabatha Ricci stops Amanda Ribas!!pic.twitter.com/GP0r5mrscV
— MMA Mania (@mmamania) July 26, 2025
Amanda Ribas will need surgery. The bone in her face broke in the same place where it broke before. A titanium plate will be placed. (per Team Ribas) pic.twitter.com/YrBkwCJASm
— Marcel Dorff (@BigMarcel24) July 27, 2025
“I think the plate was a bit loose,” Ribas wrote. “Those who were with me know I was constantly training with headaches, and I thought it was nothing. It appears that with the impact of the strike, the plate moved and got the muscle out of position, and it’s pressing I don’t know what. That scared me because each doctor would come and say something different in a language I don’t know, and I was in so much pain I couldn’t even speak Portuguese properly.”
Fortunately, UFC fighters in Abu Dhabi are being treated with the best care.
“The hospital is very fancy, everything is perfect, and I have no pain now,” she added. “I’ll have surgery soon.”
This loss to Ricci is Ribas’ third in a row, and she is now 1-4 over her last five fights.
More from mmamania.com:
- Miocic Responds To Pressure From White And Cormier
- White On ‘Possibly’ Stripping Miocic
- UFC 249 Embedded: Rousey Nearly Knocked Out Cruz?
- Midnight Mania! Sterling Vs. Sandhagen Possible June 6 Headliner
- UFC 249 Odds, Under Dogs And Best Bets!
- Khabib Plans July Return, Vows To ‘Smash Them All’
- Video! Jacare Breaks Social Distancing Rules Prior To UFC 249 Removal
