So many things happened for the initial foray into the UFC to the sphere in Las Vegas last September that one of the great battles of 2024 – a confrontation between Daniel Zellhuber de Mexico and Esteban Ribovics – has become terribly unknown. It was Zellhuber who entered the UFC 306 as a known goods, because he had demonstrated a desire to transform ordinary fights into wars. And because the UFC celebrated the Mexican independence day for his à la carte salary strongly on the theme, he obtained the biggest pop when they made the walks.
However, when everything was said and made, the crowd gathered sent enthusiastic joy for Ribovics, who raised hands. Or maybe it was Zellhuber’s heart to survive to hear the dashboards, a miraculous feat in itself. Anyway, it was incredible, and the crowd became noisy delusional in a third round that had more twists and turns than a panel viaduct.
Zellhuber dropped Ribovics with a elbow within a minute in the final round, which was the first major action in a super-farm scrap at this point. A minute later, Ribovics crashed into the right house that sent Zellhuber to swing on the high seas. Saying that Ribovics unleashed hell would be an understatement.
He castigated Zellhuber with a dam of blows which should easily have concluded the agreement. However, there was Zellhuber, rolling on the fence as if he was trying to scratch his back on the links, his instinct for survival to swing in the hope of avoiding the end. The punches continued to come. It was a sustained fury of Ribovics. The crowd was standing, but now not because a finish was close, but in understanding the birth, a finish was refused. Zellhuber withdrew on drunk legs and fell on his knees. He got up and galloped on the side around the octagon leaning on an unstable angle, but does not go down.
No more punches. No more survival. No more retirement.
It was just a matter of time before referee Jason Herzog intervened …
And then, from nowhere, Zellhuber fire. Signs of life! He timed Ribovics again and again, taking one to deliver one, in a way always intact and roaring. Ribovics and Zellhuber both shot for the last two minutes, and in the end, no one in the building was left in its seat.
“I have looked at this fight hundreds of times since, and each time I receive goosebumps,” says Ribovics about his opus. “I’m a fan of myself. It was back and forth.
In the overstimulation of the experience of the sphere, the most primitive laws of attrition took over for a few moments during this fight, starting with Ribovics being vibrated with this elbow.
“I recognize that I have a good chin, but, as a visitor, it takes something different in me,” he says. “I knew that I had to win this fight because of the magnitude of the event and for all that a victory would do for my career during this specific event.”
So, what survived Zellhuber in an instant classic for his career? He won him an appointment at the UFC Apex this weekend against Nasrat Haqparast. From the fight of the year to the sphere to a discreet flex at the apex.
Whatever the fanfare, Haqparast and Ribovics will be swinging for the UFC fighting evening on Saturday in what promises to be a banger. The Haqparast, born in Germany, made a sequence of victories of four fights in the light division and, at 29, is at the top of its powers. Ribovics now won three in a row, having dusted Terence McKinney in 37 seconds with a headache during his previous fight before Zellhuber.
“It is obviously different, it’s a smaller place, but I have good memories of the” Dana White’s Contenters series “,” explains Ribovics to go from the relative calm sphere of the UFC apex. “I’m going to go out with the same will, and I will want to finish the same way.”
It was in this same exhibition hall that Ribovics broke out in the UFC, when he released Thomas Paull in just 90 seconds on the DWC. Since then, he went 3-1 in total, the solitary loss against Loik Radzhabov via the decision at the UFC 285. The fight McKinney was a declaration of his explosive. And, if he had his Druthers between a quick circuit stroke from which he emerged in perfect condition or a pure and simple war as he had done with Zellhuber, he would always opt for the first.
“Obviously, I like short fights, but long fights are still entertaining,” he says. “The only thing of a longer fight is that you need more time to recover after a hard fight like with Zellhuber.
“But I think Haqparast is an aggressive fighter, and I hope he will bring an aggressive fight. I plan a quick fight, but if it makes the distance, it will be very entertaining. »»
Ribovics, who trains at the Kill Cliff FC in Florida, has not returned to Argentina since his war with Zellhuber. It comes from the northern part of the country, and it has become a kind of local folk hero in the region. When he returned home after eliminating McKinney, he had a great welcome because it looked like a break in his career.
However, this Zellhuber fight brought things to a different level.
This is the kind of fight on which you look back and you wonder where each man has found himself digging so deeply. Asked where he obtained his heart, Ribovics says that it is a desire to be mentioned in the same breath as the greatest icons in his country.
“It comes from very, very difficult moments, going through these moments of my life,” he says. “It is hunger that I have to conquer the world, and the hunger that I have so that my name is said as strong as the name of Lionel Messi.”
If this UFC 306 fight was an overview of what Ribovics is capable, 2025 promises to be a revealing year for “El Gringo”.
“I promise you, I will be in the top 15 of this year,” explains Ribovics. “This is my goal.”
(Tagstotranslate) Esteban Ribovics (T) Daniel Zellhuber (T) UFC (T) Zellhuber
