What’s next for Rose Namajunas and Amanda Ribas after UFC Vegas 89?

In the main event of UFC Vegas 89, flyweight contenders took center stage as Rose Namajunas battled Amanda Ribas.

Namajunas entered the fight coming off a decision loss to Manon Fiorot in her flyweight debut, and before that, she lost to Carla Esparza to drop the strawweight title. Ribas, meanwhile, had most recently TKO’d Luana Pinheiro, this after suffering a TKO loss to Maycee Barber.

Ultimately, it was Namajunas who won a decision to return to the win column. Now, following UFC Vegas 89, here is what I think should be next for both fighters involved in the main event.

Rose Namajunas

Rose Namajunas avoided her first career three-fight losing skid with a decision win over Amanda Ribas at UFC Vegas 89. Namajunas started strong and won the first two rounds, as well as winning the final two to get the decision victory.

After the win, Rose Namajunas called out Maycee Barber which is a logical next matchup. Erin Blanchfield faces Manon Fiorot this weekend and the winner of that will face the winner of Grasso-Shevchenko 3. With that, a matchup of Namajunas vs. Barber is the most logical next step as the winner would be a win away from a title shot.

It’s also a perfect Fight Night main event and an opportunity for Barber to go five rounds, while for Namajunas, if she can beat ‘The Future’ it would prove she is a title contender once again.

Amanda Ribas

Amanda Ribas has alternated wins and losses in her last seven fights as the Brazilian lost another key bout this past weekend. Ribas now appears to be outside of the title picture looking in.

Ribas has the opportunity to either remain at flyweight or drop back down to strawweight. I do expect her to remain at flyweight and she will have to face someone ranked below her and a logical matchup is Tracy Cortez. Cortez is ranked 10th and deserves a step-up in competition and a matchup against Ribas makes a ton of sense.