A crossover matchup between a top-ranked Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight and
another in the top 10 at strawweight will go down this May.
Combate
was first to report the pairing in March, announcing that Katlyn
Chookagian (17-4) will be squaring off with Amanda
Ribas (11-2) at a currently unnumbered UFC
Fight Night event on May 14. The two will face off in the
flyweight division, with Chookagian re-signing a deal with the
promotion after ending her contract while Ribas will come back to
the division after two appearances at 115 pounds. Ribas was
initially booked against Michelle
Waterson for March, but the fight was postponed once to May and
then called off again due to what Waterson called a
“career-threatening injury.” Chookagian vs. Ribas has since been
confirmed by
multiple outlets as well as Chookagian herself on
Instagram on Friday.
Chookagian concluded her last UFC deal after capturing a trio of
decision wins over Cynthia
Calvillo, Viviane
Araujo and Jennifer
Maia in 2020, 2021 and 2022, respectively. The woman known as
“Blonde Fighter” is littered throughout the
women’s 125-pound record books, in which she celebrates the
most wins – eight, alongside champ Valentina
Shevchenko – as well as decision wins (eight), the
second-highest significant strike total (727), second-most fights
(11) and second-greatest amount of cage time. Throughout her run
inside the Octagon, which includes 14 appearances dating back to
mid-2016, Chookagian has yet to finish an opponent.
Brazil’s Ribas will be fighting at flyweight for the second time in
her career, with the first a quick armbar over Paige
VanZant at UFC 251 in July 2020. The remainder of her tenure as
a fighter has come at 115 pounds, in which she has beaten the likes
of Mackenzie
Dern, Virna
Jandiroba and Randa
Markos since debuting in the UFC in 2019. Ribas’ overall finish
rate of 64% is substantially higher than that of her opponent’s
18%, although three of her last four victories came on the
scorecards.
The UFC Fight Night card on May 14 will likely be held inside the
UFC Apex in Las Vegas, and it will be headlined by a rescheduled
light heavyweight tilt between ex-champ Jan
Blachowicz and rising contender Aleksandar
Rakic. Other matchups set for this card include a light
heavyweight scrap between Ryan Spann
and Ion
Cutelaba, a flyweight clash between Viviane
Araujo and Andrea Lee
and a strawweight fight pitting Jandiroba against Angela
Hill.