UFC on ESPN 53: How to watch Ribas vs. Namajunas, Vegas lineup, odds

The UFC stays home in Las Vegas this week with a former women’s champion in the headlining spot.

Here’s how to watch UFC on ESPN 53 with women’s flyweights in the main event and heavyweights in the co-feature.

UFC on ESPN 53 has a main card that starts at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN. The preliminary card streams on ESPN+ at 4 p.m. ET.

Amanda Ribas (12-4 MMA, 7-3 UFC) will cross a big one off her bucket list Saturday when she fights in a UFC main event for the first time. Ribas started her UFC tenure 4-0, including wins over Mackenzie Dern and Paige VanZant. It’s been up and down her past six, but she’s coming off a bonus-winning knockout of Luana Pinheiro this past November. That bout was at strawweight, but she’s back to 125 pounds for this one.

Two-time women’s strawweight champion Rose Namajunas (11-6 MMA, 9-5 UFC) moved to flyweight this past fall, but dropped a decision to Manon Fiorot in Paris. That was her return to the cage after a 16-month layoff after she lost the 115-pound title to Carla Esparza with a split decision.

Justin Tafa (7-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC) and Karl Williams (9-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) will throw down at heavyweight in the co-feature. Although Tafa is a significant betting underdog, he has three straight first-round knockout wins. Williams has won six straight, five of which have come by decision. He got to the UFC through Dana White’s Contender Series.

Record: 8-1
Opponent: Fernando Padilla (15-5 MMA, 1-1 UFC)
Division: Featherweight
Misc.: First-round knockout of Robbie King on DWCS punched his ticket to the UFC.

Record: 9-1
Opponent: Jarno Errens (13-5-1 MMA, 0-2 UFC)
Division: Featherweight
Misc.: In an oddity, Nguyen had a DWCS win in 2021 – then two years away from the cage. He came back at DWCS this past September and a second-round knockout has him in the UFC.

Record: 8-1
Opponent: Montserrat Rendon (6-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC)
Division: Women’s bantamweight
Misc.: Russia’s Zheleznyakova was supposed to debut in the UFC this past October, but pulled out. She has five of her eight wins by knockout.

Record: 7-0
Opponent: Igor Severino (8-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC)
Division: Flyweight
Misc.: A 2023 win under the LFA banner got Lima a shot at DWCS, which he won by decision.

Record: 8-0
Opponent: Andre Lima (7-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC)
Division: Flyweight
Misc.: It’ll be Brazil vs. Brazil for Severino, who like his opponent got to the UFC through a win on DWCS. Prior to that, he won Jungle Fight’s flyweight title in Brazil.

• Amanda Ribas (+150) vs. Rose Namajunas (-180)
• Justin Tafa (+205) vs. Karl Williams (-250)
• AJ Dobson (+160) vs. Edmen Shahbazyan (-190)
• Cameron Saaiman (-105) vs. Payton Talbott (-115)
• Billy Quarantillo (-140) vs. Youssef Zalal (+120)
• Fernando Padilla (-160) vs. Luis Pajuelo (+135)

• Kurt Holobaugh (+120) vs. Trey Ogden (-140)
• Julian Erosa (+155) vs. Ricardo Ramos (-185)
• Cody Gibson (+105) vs. Miles Johns (-120)
• Jarno Errens (+190) vs. Steven Nguyen (-235)
• Montserrat Rendon (+140) vs. Darya Zheleznyakova (-170)
• Andre Lima (-170) vs. Igor Severino (+140)
• Mick Parkin (-160) vs. Mohammed Usman (+135)