Claudio Ribeiro opened the show in style Saturday.
During the UFC 288 preliminary card opener, Ribeiro (11-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) nearly finished Joseph Holmes (8-4 MMA, 1-3 UFC) in Round 1 before the bell. The horn just delayed the ultimate outcome as Ribeiro finished the fight with punches at 3:21 of Round 2.
A knee dropped Ribeiro to the canvas before Ribeiro’s ground-and-pound forced referee Gary Copeland to wave off the middleweight bout, which took place at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
RIBEIRO STARTS OFF #UFC288 WITH A BANG 💥 pic.twitter.com/Ptw0YoeaK5
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) May 6, 2023
Ribeiro, 30, picked up his first UFC win and bounced back from a knockout loss to Abdul Razak Alhassan in his promotional debut in January.
Holmes, 27, has lost back-to-back fights by second-round stoppage. He missed weight by three pounds at Friday’s official weigh-ins. Holmes said he tried to bulk muscle up for this fight, which backfired after miscalculations.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 288.
