UFC Fight Night 249: Dern vs. Ribas 2 (also known as UFC Vegas 101) is an upcoming mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that will take place on January 11, 2025, at the UFC Apex in Enterprise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Valley, United States.
Fight card
Main card (ESPN+)
Women's Strawweight Mackenzie Dern vs. Amanda Ribas Welterweight Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Carlston Harris Middleweight César Almeida vs. Abdul Razak Alhassan Middleweight Chris Curtis vs. Roman Kopylov Featherweight Christian Rodriguez vs. Austin Bashi Welterweight Punahele Soriano vs. Uroš Medić
Preliminary card (ESPN+)
Flyweight Jose Johnson vs. Felipe Bunes Middleweight Marco Tulio vs. Ihor Potieria Lightweight Thiago Moisés vs. Trey Ogden Welterweight Preston Parsons vs. Jacobe Smith Women's Flyweight Ernesta Kareckaitė vs. Nicolle Caliari Light Heavyweight Magomed Gadzhiyasulov vs. Bruno Lopes Women's Strawweight Fatima Kline vs. Victoria Dudakova Lightweight Joe Solecki vs. Nurullo Aliev
Background
A women's strawweight rematch between Mackenzie Dern and Amanda Ribas is scheduled to headline this event. They were originally scheduled to compete at UFC on ESPN: Covington vs. Buckley on December 14, 2024 but the bout was moved to this event in order to serve as the main event. The duo previously met at UFC Fight Night: Joanna vs. Waterson in October 2019, where Ribas won by unanimous decision.
A women's bantamweight bout between former UFC Women's Featherweight Champion Germaine de Randamie and former LFA Women's Bantamweight Champion Jacqueline Cavalcanti was reportedly scheduled for this event. However, de Randamie announced her retirement and the bout was scrapped.
A welterweight bout between Preston Parsons and Andreas Gustafsson was scheduled for the event. However, Gustafsson withdrew from the fight for unknown reasons and was replaced by Jacobe Smith.
In addition, Nurullo Aliev and Yanal Ashmouz were scheduled to meet in a lightweight bout. However, Ashmouz withdrew for unknown reasons and was replaced by Joe Solecki.
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Post subject: Re: [Event] UFC Fight Night 249 - Dern vs. Ribas 2 - Jan 11
Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2024 5:39 am
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Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2009 12:53 pm Posts: 13530 Location: In front of you
Top Strawweight Contenders Mackenzie Dern And Amanda Ribas Collide At Ufc Apex
Featured Bout: Chris Curtis Vs Roman Kopylov
UFC kicks off its first event of 2025 at UFC APEX with a compelling strawweight main event as No. 6 ranked contender Mackenzie Dern and No. 8 ranked Amanda Ribas collide with the hopes of breaking into the Top 5. Also on the card, exciting middleweight strikers face off as Chris Curtis battles Roman Kopylov.
Submission specialist Dern (14-5, fighting out of Huntington Beach, Calif.) aims to even the score with Ribas with a standout performance. A relentless grappler, she has put her Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt skills on display in impressive wins over Loopy Godinez, Angela Hill, and Tecia Pennington. She now looks to add to her record for the most submissions in UFC strawweight history and insert herself into the title conversation.
Ribas (13-5, fighting out of Varginha, Minas Gerais, Brazil) seeks to start off her 2025 campaign by replicating her October 2019 victory over Dern. A black belt in both judo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, she has proven herself as one of the best in the division with finishes of Luana Pinheiro, Paige VanZant, and Emily Whitmire. Ribas now has her sights set on making a statement in her return to the 115-pound weight class.
Curtis (31-11 1NC, fighting out of Las Vegas, Nev. by way of Cincinnati, Ohio) returns to the Octagon with hopes of kickstarting a run up the rankings. A well-rounded athlete, Curtis has entertained fans in wins over Marc-Andre Barriault, Joaquin Buckley and Rodolfo Vieira. He now hopes to steal the show with a definitive showing against Kopylov.
Exciting striker Kopylov (13-3, fighting out of Bachatsky, Kemerovo, Russia) looks to notch the biggest victory of his UFC career. Winner of five of his last six bouts, he has impressed with notable knockouts of Josh Fremd, Claudio Ribeiro, and Alessio Di Chirico. Kopylov now plans to make a case to break into the Top 15 with a thunderous win over Curtis.
Additional bouts on the card include:
Dana White’s Contender Series signee Marco Tulio (12-1, fighting out of São Paulo, Brazil) aims to impress in his UFC debut against Ihor Potieria (21-7, fighting out of Kiev, Ukraine) at middleweight.
An exciting lightweight matchup sees Thiago Moises (18-8, fighting out of Indaiatuba, Sao Paulo, Brazil) take on Trey Ogden (18-6, fighting out of Kansas City, Mo.).
Magomed Gadzhiyasulov (9-0, fighting out of Kingdom of Bahrain) plans to remain undefeated as he faces debuting Dana White’s Contender Series contract winner Bruno Lopes (13-1, fighting out of Cotia, Sao Paulo, Brazil) in a light heavyweight bout.
Former professional kickboxer Cesar Almeida (6-1, fighting out of Sao Paulo, Brazil) takes on Abdul Razak Alhassan(12-6, fighting out of Denver, Colo. by way of Accra, Ghana) in a battle of all-action middleweights.
Christian Rodriguez (11-2, fighting out of Milwaukee, Wisc.) looks to derail the rise of Dana White’s Contender Series standout Austin Bashi (13-0, fighting out of West Bloomfield, Mich.) at featherweight.
Veteran Santiago Ponzinibbio (30-8, fighting out of Coconut Creek, Fla.) looks to make a statement against Carlston Harris (19-6, fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil by way of Skeldon, Guyana) at welterweight.
Dana White’s Contender Series veterans Punahele Soriano (10-4, fighting out of Las Vegas, Nev. by way of Oahu, Hawaii) and Uros Medic (10-2, fighting out of Anchorage, Alaska by way of Novi Sad, Serbia) go toe-to-toe at welterweight.
Jose Johnson (16-9, fighting out of Copperas Cove, Texas by way of La Romana, Dominican Republic) takes on Felipe Bunes (13-7, fighting out of Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil) at flyweight.
Nurullo Aliev (9-0, fighting out of Dushanbe, Tajikistan) aims to keep his perfect record intact when he battles Yanal Ashmouz (8-1, fighting out of Fairfield, N.J. by way of Kfar Kama, Israel) in a lightweight bout.
Ernesta Kareckaite (5-1-1, fighting out of Kaunas, Lithuania) hopes to earn her first UFC victory when she meets Nicolle Caliari (8-2, fighting out of Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil) in a flyweight bout.
Welterweight action sees Preston Parsons (11-5, fighting out of Jacksonville Beach, Fla.) face off with Dana White’s Contender Series signee Andreas Gustafsson (11-2, fighting out of Västerås, Sweden).
Fatima Kline (6-1, fighting out of Hyde Park, N.Y.) meets Dana White’s Contender Series alum Viktoriia Dudakova (8-1, fighting out of Volgograd, Russia) in a strawweight clash sure to deliver fireworks.
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Post subject: Re: [Event] UFC Fight Night 249 - Dern vs. Ribas 2 - Jan 11
Posted: Tue Jan 07, 2025 7:04 am
Site Admin
Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2009 12:53 pm Posts: 13530 Location: In front of you
Fight By Fight Preview | UFC Fight Night: Dern vs Ribas 2
Laying Out The Lineup For The Opening Event Of The UFC’s 2025 Campaign
By E. Spencer Kyte
Welcome back, fight fans!
Our annual three-week run sans UFC action to close one year and open the next has come and gone and it’s time to get back in the swing of things with a solid slate of action at the UFC APEX this weekend to open the 2025 campaign.
Headlined by a critical rematch in the strawweight division and featuring the debuts of several promising recent Dana White’s Contender Series grads, Saturday’s fight card promises to be a nice little foray back into the Octagon that gets everyone excited for what’s ahead… and I don’t just mean next week’s stellar pay-per-view.
Let’s get into it, shall we?
Main Event: Mackenzie Dern vs Amanda Ribas
Top 10 strawweights share the Octagon for a second time in the opening main event of the year, as Mackenzie Dern faces off with Amanda Ribas.
Currently sitting at No. 6 in the rankings, Dern enters 2025 off a win over Loopy Godinez in Abu Dhabi at the start of August but is also at a bit of a crossroads in terms of where she fits in the division. Historically, she’s beaten those positioned behind her in the divisional hierarchy but struggled to get by those in front of her, and if the multiple-time Brazilian jiu jitsu world champion is ever going to make a real push to challenge for championship gold, that trend has to change and this has to be the year where that starts to happen.
One of only two fighters currently ranked in two weight classes, Ribas returns to the 115-pound division after dropping her one and only bout of 2024, a flyweight main event opposite Rose Namajunas, last March. While she’s split her time between the two divisions, Ribas has generally thrived at strawweight, posting a 5-1 record, while posting a 2-3 record in five fights at flyweight.
Ribas won the first meeting between the two more than five years ago in Tampa, collecting a clean sweep of the scorecards. Each has certainly grown and improved in the subsequent years, but it will be interesting to see if those developments create a different dynamic between the two inside the Octagon or if things play out along similar lines, resulting in a similar outcome.
Additional Main Card Matchups
Santiago Ponzinibbio vs Carlston Harris
Santiago Ponzinibbio and Carlston Harris clash in a battle of welterweight veterans in Saturday’s co-main event.
Now in Year 12 on the UFC roster, the 38-year-old Ponzinibbio returns to Las Vegas looking to snap out of a two-fight slide, having dropped his lone appearance of 2024 to Muslim Salikhov by split decision in July. “The Argentine Dagger” is 2-5 since returning to action following the gruesome leg injury and subsequent infection that nearly ended his career, with three of those setbacks coming by split decision.
Harris had been one of the cooler small stories in the UFC over his first three years with the promotion, posting a 4-1 record with three finishes, two post-fight bonuses, and his only loss coming against Shavkat Rakhmonov. Last year, the native of Guyana made just one trip into the cage, suffering a first-round knockout loss to Khaos Williams in mid-May.
Part of a surprisingly large contingent of welterweights aged 37 and up, these two face off this weekend looking to show they still have the ability to compete in the always dangerous welterweight ranks. Experienced veterans are crucial to each divisional ecosystem, and a strong showing from either man will show where they stand on the welterweight food chain as the year gets underway.
Cesar Almeida vs Abdul Razak Alhassan
Middleweights known for handling business in expeditious fashion face off in the middle of this weekend’s main card as Cesar Almeida takes on Abdul Razak Alhassan.
A member of the DWCS Class of ’23, Almeida earned a Performance of the Night bonus in his debut win over Dylan Budka last April before dropping a decision to Roman Kopylov in his sophomore appearance under the UFC banner. He bounced back with a grinding win over Ihor Potieria at UFC 307 to advance to 6-1 and close out his rookie year on the roster.
Alhassan has maintained a 100-percent finishing rate through his 12 career victories but enters Saturday’s contest seeking his first win since the first month of 2023. His July bout with Cody Brundage ended in a no contest 37 seconds into the fight after Alhassan landed an accidental elbow to the back of Brundage’s head and he was unable to continue, and then his October pairing with Josh Fremd was scrapped when the Pittsburgh native missed weight and was hospitalized, so you can be sure that he is chomping at the bit to get back into the Octagon.
While this has the potential to be a “someone is going to get knocked out” situation, Almeida has shown more diversity to his game in each appearance, so it will be curious to see if he opts to stand with the Colorado-based powerhouse or deploy a more clinch and grappling-heavy approach once they’re in there.
Chris Curtis vs Roman Kopylov
The first of the two middleweight pairings set for Saturday’s main card features Chris Curtis and Roman Kopylov.
Curtis kicked off his 2024 campaign with a hard-fought decision win over Marc-Andre Barriault at UFC 297 in Toronto, stemming the tides of a mini two-fight run without a win. He followed that up by facing Brendan Allen in an April main event, landing on the wrong side of the scorecards while suffering a torn hamstring late in the fight.
After carrying a four-fight winning streak into the year, Kopylov landed on the wrong side of things in his 2024 debut, getting submitted by Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez in the second round of their UFC 298 meeting in February. The Russian bounced back with a grimy decision win over Almeida a few months later, moving to 5-1 over his last six outings.
These two have hovered in the same space as one another for much of the last couple years without ever crossing paths. They do so here with each looking to begin the year on a positive note and hopefully make a push for a place in the Top 15.
Christian Rodriguez vs Austin Bashi
Christian Rodriguez and Austin Bashi share the Octagon in the fascinating clash of talented featherweights on Saturday’s main card.
Still just 27 years old, Rodriguez makes his seventh appearance under the UFC banner here, looking to rebound from a first-round submission loss to Julian Erosa last July. The Milwaukee product has gone 4-2 in his first six UFC starts, posting three wins over previously unbeaten prospects during that time, including handing Raul Rosas Jr. the first and only loss of his career.
Bashi makes the walk for the first time after earning a contract with a second-round submission win over Dorian Ramos this past season on Dana White’s Contender Series. The 25-year-old from West Bloomfield Township is 13-0 overall with eight victories inside the distance and carries a ton of hype heading into his promotional debut.
This one made the January edition of The 10, my monthly look at the upcoming fights I’m most excited about, as the “Prospect Killer vs. Killer Prospect” angle is too juicy to overlook. Rodriguez has shown flashes of serious upside, but also faltered in some spots, while Bashi looks to instantly announce his presence in the promotion by beating a well-regarded talent right out of the chute.
Punahele Soriano vs Uroš Medić
Welterweights occupy the opening slot on the main card this weekend as DWCS alums Punahele Soriano and Uros Medic ring in the new year together inside the Octagon.
After arriving in the UFC with an undefeated record and posting stoppage wins in each of his first two Octagon appearances, Soriano stumbled, dropping four of his next five, prompting a shift down a division. He looked outstanding in his first welterweight showing, dominating Miguel Baeza to get things moving in the right direction again.
Medic took the opposite road to competing in the 170-pound weight class, moving up following a trio of starts at lightweight. Just like his time at 155, the Orange County product (by way of Alaska, by way of Serbia) has gone 2-1 in his first three appearances in his new surroundings, bookending a solitary setback with a pair of strong, winning efforts.
Each of these men has shown glimpses of being fighters to watch in the welterweight division, but the sample size is still too small to be able to make a full and accurate read of things. This one should help clarify things a little more, and a dominant effort for either individual could set them up for a significant step up in competition later in the year.
Preliminary Card Pairings
Jose Johnson vs Felipe Bunes
The prelims wrap with a pairing in the flyweight division, as Jose Johnson and Felipe Bunes share the Octagon.
A two-time DWCS contestant, Johnson started his UFC run at bantamweight, splitting a pair of appearances before moving to flyweight last time out and landing on the wrong side of the results in a matchup with ascending prospect Asu Almabayev. The 35-year-old Bunes dropped his lone start to date, suffering a second-round stoppage loss to Joshua Van on the opening card of last year.
Marco Tulio vs Ihor Potieria
DWCS grads Marco Tulio and Ihor Potieria square off in the first of the day’s middleweight pairings.
A member of the Chute Boxe Diego Lima squad, Tulio earned a win, but not a contract, on Season 7, but punched his ticket to the UFC roster with a second-round stoppage win back in August. Potieria was part of the Class of ’21, and has gone just 2-5 in his first seven trips into the Octagon, entering this one having dropped consecutive contests and four of his last five.
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UFC on ESPN 63 - Covington vs. Buckley
