Former Ultimate Fighting Championship strawweight queen Rose Namajunas is taking another crack at flyweight.
On Wednesday, MMA Hoje first broke the story that Amanda Ribas (12-4) would be throwing down with Namajunas (11-6). The initial claim was that the two would headline a May 23 show—this would fall on a Thursday—and it was corrected to March 23. The two flyweights will serve as the headliner for the UFC Fight Night show on that date, which will post up in Las Vegas at the UFC Apex. This high-stakes pairing has since been confirmed by other outlets on Friday.
Brazil’s Ribas has alternated wins and losses in her last seven outings, switching back and forth from flyweight to strawweight. As a result, she currently holds the no. 12 spot at 125 pounds and the no. 14 place at strawweight on Sherdog’s Official Rankings. In her return to strawweight after three trips fighting up at flyweight, Ribas landed the first spinning wheel kick in UFC women’s divisional history when she put Luana Pinheiro away in November 2023. Her previous jaunt at flyweight did not go smoothly, as she prevailed against Viviane Araujo but came up short to Katlyn Chookagian and suffered a knockout at the hands and elbows of Maycee Barber.
Namajunas, a two-time champion at strawweight, shifted up in weight for the first time in her career at UFC Fight Night 226 in Paris. “Thug Rose” dropped a decision to Manon Fiorot to put her on the second losing streak of her career—both such streaks include a loss to Carla Esparza. Namajunas first won the belt in 2017 when she crushed Joanna Jedrzejczyk, and she ended up winning it back in 2021 by punting Weili Zhang with a head kick.
The currently unnumbered UFC Fight Night event on March 23 will be held at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. In addition to the newly announced Ribas-Namajunas headliner, featured fights of Julian Erosa vs. Ricardo Ramos and Davey Grant vs. Cody Gibson at featherweight and bantamweight, respectively, will serve on the lineup.
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