Outlook: After suffering her first UFC loss, Ribas bounced back well after a hard 2021 to earn a bounce-back win against Virna Jandiroba. Ribas was on a bit of an inside track to the Top 5 between her high skill level and infectious personality outside of the cage, and the improvements she showed against her fellow Brazilian bode well for the 28-year-old moving forward.
Although Jędrzejczyk and Andrade are not in the strawweight rankings at the moment, their presence is very much felt in the title picture. Jędrzejczyk was razor close to regaining her belt against Zhang, and if that rematch is made, she is right back into the title conversation. Andrade, on the other hand, has beat up the best at 125 pounds other than Valentina Shevchenko, and after her latest win against Cynthia Calvillo, Andrade expressed her interest in fighting the winner of Namajunas and Zhang. One could make a good argument for a rubber match against Namajunas even though Andrade hasn’t fought at 115 pounds since their rematch on Fight Island. Regardless, these two remain on the shortlist for best strawweights on the planet even if they haven’t competed in the division as frequently as their peers.
