Esteban Ribovics Wants King Green's Scalp — and a Title Shot Timeline

Esteban Ribovics doesn't do boring. The 16-3 Argentine lightweight (8 KOs, 5 submissions) says he took the King Green fight at UFC 332 the moment the phone rang — no injuries, a couple of weeks to prep, nothing to think about. The bout goes down October 3 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, and on paper it reads like a guaranteed firefight.

It should. Green is making the walk for the 55th time in his professional career, and he's riding a four-fight win streak that includes stoppages and decisions over Lance Gibson Jr, Daniel Zellhuber, Jeremy Stephens and Terrance McKinney. Ribovics, meanwhile, is coming off a second-round TKO of Edson Barboza — a result that sent the 24-15 Brazilian veteran into retirement on a loss.

Ribovics didn't exactly savor that one. He said he was happy to win but gutted to be the man who closed Barboza's career, and he wishes he'd shared the Octagon with a prime version of the legend years earlier. But as he put it, fights are fights, and he signed up for this path knowing he'd be the guy taking them whenever they're offered.

The Case for Chaos

The fight sells itself on style. Both men carry the "Bang Bang" nickname, and Ribovics promises exactly what that implies: pressure, forward motion, forcing mistakes until Green cracks. That tracks with his résumé — the head-kick finish of McKinney, the scorecard wars against Zellhuber and Elves Brener. He builds highlights whether the fight ends early or goes the distance.

He's also done his homework on Green. Ribovics studied the recent wins and isn't buying all the hype. He pointed to the McKinney fight specifically, arguing McKinney was ahead before Green found the body shot that flipped it — a great fight, sure, but not the dominant performance some framed it as. Translation: he respects the veteran without fearing him.

The stakes, in Ribovics' mind, are bigger than one scrap. He sees Green as the best of the division's veterans and a victory as his ticket to the next tier at 155 pounds. He's talking out loud about fighting at the top within a year and challenging for the belt inside two. Beat a man with 55 pro fights on his ledger and that timeline stops sounding far-fetched.