Ribovics Explains Hotel AC Mishap Behind Weight Miss

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Esteban Ribovics says a hotel air conditioning mishap is the reason he missed weight before his first-round TKO win over King Green at UFC 332 this past Saturday in Salt Lake City.

Speaking with reporters after the fight, Ribovics walked through what happened during his final weight cut. On Thursday, there's something that we do, we do everything we could to get to a certain number, just to cut some stuff on Friday, but they turned on the air conditioning while we were just doing it and basically I stopped sweating, Ribovics said through a Spanish translator. At one point, they had to leave it for the next day because he stopped sweating from the cold, so the cut got derailed.

What Happened Between Ribovics and Green Before the Fight

The build to this fight was already tense before any scale issues surfaced. Ribovics and Green's camp had a heated exchange in the lead-up to fight night, adding extra sting to a lightweight bout that was personal well before the opening bell. Green said afterward that he wishes referee Herb Dean had given him more time to recover during the fight, though the result stands as a finish for Ribovics.

How the Fight Played Out

Ribovics got the job done inside the first round, dropping Green multiple times before the finish was called. The win pushes Ribovics to 17-3 as a pro and marks his second straight victory, a bounce back from his loss to Mateusz Gamrot that he says changed his approach entirely. "After that fight against Gamrot, things clicked in my head, and I just became more professional, improved a lot of things to be ready for whenever," Ribovics said. "I am ready. If called upon, I will face anyone."

Betting Angle

Ribovics went in as the betting favorite against Green, and the way he closed the show reinforced why oddsmakers liked him on paper against a 40-year-old veteran. Missed weight situations usually spook bettors late in fight week, since a hard cut can drain a fighter's gas tank, but Ribovics looked sharp and finished clean, suggesting the weight miss didn't cost him physically the way it sometimes does. For anyone tracking him going forward, his willingness to "face anyone" puts him squarely in the mix for a step-up fight, and his price will likely shrink the next time he's booked against a ranked name given how this performance looked.

Green, now on the wrong end of a tough stretch, becomes a tricky man to price in future lightweight betting markets. He remains a live underdog threat given his durability and experience, but finishes like this one raise real questions about how much he has left against the division's rising names.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did Esteban Ribovics miss weight before UFC 332?

Esteban Ribovics said a hotel air conditioning mishap during his Thursday cut caused him to stop sweating, which disrupted his plan to finish cutting weight on Friday ahead of his UFC 332 bout with King Green.

Who won the Esteban Ribovics vs King Green fight at UFC 332?

Esteban Ribovics defeated King Green by first-round TKO after scoring multiple knockdowns at UFC 332 in Salt Lake City, improving his pro record to 17-3.