Tabatha Ricci talks upcoming fight at UFC 285 against Jessica Penne
Tabatha Ricci is getting the biggest opportunity of her career when she fights on March 4.
That event will be UFC 285, which is a massive UFC pay per event and it is expecting to have high viewership from all across the world.
The main reason why the event is being so highly looked at is because Jon Jones is making his highly anticipated return to the octagon when he makes his heavyweight debut against Cirly Gane in which both men will fight for the vacant title.
Long time UFC flyweight queen Valentina Shevchenko will also be apart of the high viewership as she looks to make her eight title defense against Alexa Grasso.
For Ricci, she knows exactly what this opportunity means for her and she’s looking to make a big impression inside of the octagon at the T Mobile Arena in Las Vegas that night.
Since last year, Ricci has wanted a chance to fight a bigger name and crack the UFC rankings and that’s exactly what she’s getting the chance to do at UFC 285.
Standing across the octagon from Ricci will be Jessica Penne, who is a former UFC title challenger and up until late last year, she was still ranked with the top 15 fighters in the UFC’s strawweight division.
In fact, Ricci and Penne were scheduled to fight one another in October, but Penne pulled out of the fight.
While a win over Penne on March 4 might not exactly get Ricci that number next two her name like she’s been hunting down, it will definitely get her a fight with a ranked a opponent later this year.
Prior to UFC 285, Ricci spoke with MyMMANews to discuss her matchup with Penne, her excitement to be a Jon Jones pay per view event and having her mother and grandmother coming to the fight from Brazil.
You can watch her full interview in the video above.
A list of fights scheduled for UFC 285 are listed below:
Jon Jones vs. Ciryl Gane – vacant UFC heavyweight championship
Valentina Shevchenko (C) vs. Alexa Grasso – UFC women’s flyweight championship
Jalin Turner vs. Mateusz Gamrot
Geoff Neal vs. Shavkat Rakhmonov
Bo Nickal vs. Jamie Pickett
Derek Brunson vs. Dricus du Plessis
Ian Machado Garry vs. Son Kenan
Cody Garbrandt vs. Julio Arce
Viviane Araujo vs. Amanda Ribas
Julian Marquez vs. Marc-Andre Barriault
Mana Martinez vs. Cameron Saaiman
Jessica Penne vs. Tabatha Ricci
Da’mon Blackshear vs. Farid Basharat
Kamuela Kirk vs. Esteban Ribovics
