So much was going on for the UFC’s initial foray to the Sphere in Las Vegas last September that one of the great fights of 2024 — a clash between Mexico City’s Daniel Zellhuber and Argentina’s Esteban Ribovics — went woefully unsung. It was Zellhuber who came into UFC 306 as the known commodity, as he’d demonstrated a willingness to turn ordinary fights into wars. And because the UFC was celebrating Mexican Independence Day for its heavily themed pay-per-view, he got the bigger pop when they made the walks.
Yet when it was all said and done, the gathered crowd sent up a rapturous cheer for Ribovics, who got his hand raised. Or maybe it was for Zellhuber’s heart to survive to hear the scorecards, a miraculous feat in itself. Whatever it was, it was incredible, and the crowd became deliriously loud in a third round that had more twists and turns than a scenic overpass.
Zellhuber dropped Ribovics with an elbow less than a minute into the final round, which was the first big action in an up-to-that-point super-close, back-and-forth scrap. A minute later, Ribovics crashed home an overhand right that sent Zellhuber swaying on the high seas. To say that Ribovics unleashed hell would be an understatement.
He blasted Zellhuber with a barrage of blows that should’ve easily closed the deal. Yet there was Zellhuber, rolling on the fence like he was trying to scratch his back on the links, his instincts for survival down to bobbing in hopes of avoiding the ending blow. The punches kept coming. It was a sustained fury from Ribovics. The crowd was on its feet, though now not because a finish was near but in the dawning understanding that a finish was being denied. Zellhuber retreated on drunken legs and fell to a knee. He got back up and galloped sideways around the Octagon leaning at an unsteady angle, but not going down.
More punches. More survival. More retreating.
It was just a matter of time before referee Jason Herzog would step in …
And then, out of nowhere, Zellhuber returned fire. Signs of life! He clocked Ribovics again and again, taking one to deliver one, somehow still intact and roaring back. Both Ribovics and Zellhuber proceeded to trade blows for the final two minutes, and at the end nobody in the building was left in his or her seat.
“I’ve watched that fight hundreds of times since, and every time I get goosebumps,” Ribovics says of his opus. “I am a fan of myself. It was back and forth.”
In the overstimulation of the Sphere experience, the more primitive laws of attrition took over for a few moments during that fight, starting with Ribovics getting rocked with that elbow.
“I recognize that I have a good chin, but, being a visitor, it takes something different in me,” he says. “I knew I had to win that fight because of the magnitude of the event and for everything that a win would do for my career at that specific event.”
So, what did outlasting Zellhuber in an instant classic do for his career? It landed him an appointment at the UFC Apex this weekend against Nasrat Haqparast. From Fight of the Year at the Sphere to a low-key flex at the Apex.
Regardless of the fanfare, Haqparast and Ribovics will be the swing bout for the UFC’s Fight Night on Saturday in what promises to be a banger. The German-born Haqparast has put together a four-fight win streak in the lightweight division and, at 29 years old, is at the peak of his powers. Ribovics has now won three in a row, having dusted Terence McKinney in 37 seconds with a head-kick knockout in his previous fight before Zellhuber.
“It is obviously different, it’s a smaller venue, but I have good memories from Dana White’s Contenders Series,” Ribovics says of going from the Sphere to the relative quiet of the UFC Apex. “I’m going to go out with the same will, and I’m going to want to end the same way.”
It was in that very showroom that Ribovics broke through into the UFC, when he took out Thomas Paull in just 90 seconds on the DWCS. Since then, he has gone 3-1 overall, with the lone loss coming against Loik Radzhabov via decision at UFC 285. The McKinney fight was a declaration of how explosive he can be. And, if he had his druthers between a quick knockout from which he emerges in mint condition or an outright war like he had with Zellhuber, he would always opt for the former.
“Obviously, I like the short fights, but the long fights are always entertaining,” he says. “The only thing a longer fight is you need more time to recover after a hard fight like with Zellhuber.
“But I think Haqparast’s an aggressive fighter, and I’m hoping he brings an aggressive fight. I’m planning for a quick fight, but if it goes the distance, it’s going to be very entertaining.”
Ribovics, who trains at Kill Cliff FC in Florida, hasn’t been back to Argentina since his war with Zellhuber. He comes from the northern part of the country, and he has emerged as a kind of local folk hero in the area. When he returned home after knocking out McKinney, he had a big welcome, as it felt like a breakthrough moment in his career.
Yet that Zellhuber fight took things to a different level.
It’s the kind of fight that you look back on and wonder where each man found it within himself to dig so deep. Asked about where he gets his heart, Ribovics says it’s from a desire to be mentioned in the same breath as the biggest icons in his country.
“It comes from very, very hard moments, going through those moments in my life” he says. “It’s from the hunger I have to conquer the world, and from the hunger I have for my name to be said as loud as Lionel Messi’s name.”
If that fight from UFC 306 was a glimpse at what Ribovics is capable of, 2025 is shaping up to be an eye-opening year for “El Gringo.”
“I promise to you, I’ll be top 15 this year,” Ribovics says. “That’s my goal.”
