UFC lightweight contender Esteban Ribovics explained why he missed weight for his fight against King Green at UFC 332.
Ribovics stopped Green in the first round with punches in their featured bout on the UFC 332 main card. It was his second straight TKO win over a fan-favorite veteran fighter after he finished Edson Barboza at UFC 330 in August.
However, despite the impressive performance, Ribovics was ineligible to win a post-fight bonus because he missed weight, coming in at 156.5 lbs — just 0.5 lbs over the 156 lbs non-title limit for a lightweight bout, but a weight miss nonetheless.
Esteban Ribovics Explains Weight Miss
Speaking to the media following UFC 332, Ribovics explained why he missed weight at UFC 332, suggesting that there was foul play in the air — literally.
“On Thursday, there’s something that we do, we do everything we could to get to a certain number, just to cut some stuff on Friday, but they turned on the air conditioning while we were just doing it and basically I stopped sweating. At one point, ‘We have to leave this for tomorrow,’ I stopped sweating because of it, so we got cold and just stopped sweating,” Ribovics said (via MMAFighting.com).
While Ribovics wouldn’t go so far as to accuse Green and his team of being the ones who sabotaged his weight cut, it is interesting that he brought up this air conditioner issue as a possible excuse for missing weight, the first time he’s come in heavy during his UFC career.
What’s Next for Esteban Ribovics?
This was a terrific win for Ribovics, who is a fan favorite himself due to his powerful, action-packed, strike-first style of fighting.
As for what’s next, Ribovics didn’t have a name to call out, but it’s fair to say he could get someone ranked next.
“I don’t like to call out names. I’ll tell you that after that fight against (Mateusz) Gamrot, things clicked in my head, and I just became more professional, improved a lot of things to be ready for whenever and I can tell you I am ready. If called upon, I will face anyone,” Ribovics said.
Esteban Ribovics Explains Why He Missed Weight at UFC 332