"He fell on his face" - Amanda Ribas gets brutally honest about beating Brazilian bodybuilder during grappling session ahead of Mackenzie Dern fight

Amanda Ribas is gearing up to take on Mackenzie Dern this weekend and opted to test her grappling against a male bodybuilder several times her size. She detailed her experience with MMA Fighting in a recent sitdown. The friendly tussle came about after she had made her commentary debut.

The 115-pounder was in São Paulo, Brazil, to work as a Portuguese-speaking UFC commentator on TV Bandeirantes. Afterward, a friend of hers introduced her to two male bodybuilders, who also double as social media influencers, known as Renato Cariani and Julio Balestrin, the latter of whom she trained with.

Check out Amanda Ribas grappling with Julio Balestrin:

Ribas recounted her experience grappling with the much larger Balestrin, expressing astonishment over his physical strength. Nevertheless, Ribas, a black belt in both judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, proved to be too nimble and skillful for Balestrin, outgrappling him with relative ease.

Nevertheless, the strawweight star still couldn't help but be amazed by his strength, noting that she had to treat the situation with a tremendous amount of caution.

"He's so strong. My goodness, he's so strong. When you're that strong and you roll, your weight... He fell on his face and had a black eye, poor guy. But he's so strong, man. That was survival mode, almost. If he decides to grab me... I just went for it."

Now, Ribas will look to test her grappling against a far more daunting foe in former Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Mackenzie Dern, who is a more credentialed and accomplished grappler and one of the greatest women's Brazilian jiu-jitsu grapplers in the world. Curiously, it isn't the first time they've fought.

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Amanda Ribas and Mackenzie Dern faced each other early in their UFC careers

While Amanda Ribas has struggled for form recently, having not been on a win streak since 2020, she has already faced Mackenzie Dern. Back in 2019, the pair locked horns on the main card of UFC Fight Night 161. At the time, Dern was undefeated, while Ribas was on a two-fight win streak.

Check out the first meeting between Amanda Ribas and Mackenzie Dern:

However, when they finally clashed, Ribas emerged victorious via unanimous decision, handing Dern her first-ever loss. Now, several years later, they will meet again in the main event of UFC Fight Night 249.