Dern Submits Ribas in Their 2025 Rematch
Mackenzie Dern turned the January 11, 2025 rematch with Amanda Ribas into a submission win at the APEX in Las Vegas. Dern caught Ribas in an armbar at 4:56 of Round 3, according to the official event recap.
A Late Finish in the Third Round
The result evened the pair’s series after Ribas had won their first meeting by unanimous decision in 2019. The official scorecards document the full event, while the main-event finish came before the final bell.
A rivalry spanning more than five years
The first meeting took place at Amalie Arena in Tampa on October 12, 2019. Ribas won over three rounds, leaving Dern with a result to reverse when they met again as the headline attraction in Las Vegas. The change in setting also brought a longer scheduled contest, although Dern secured the finish during round three.
The rematch turned on Dern’s ability to create submission opportunities during extended grappling exchanges. She moved from an armbar threat underneath Ribas into top position before attacking the arm again. Ribas’s defensive grip initially delayed the finish, but Dern separated it and completed the submission just before the round ended, as detailed by MMA Fighting’s fight report.
Building consecutive wins
Dern entered the January rematch after a unanimous-decision victory over Loopy Godinez on August 3, 2024. That win had followed losses to Jéssica Andrade and Amanda Lemos. Her official UFC record documents the sequence.
Beating Ribas therefore accomplished two things at that point in Dern’s career: it evened their head-to-head series and gave her a second consecutive victory. The submission also supplied a clear ending to a matchup whose first installment had required the judges.
