Mauricio
Ruffy had some special inspiration for the highlight-reel kick
that dispatched Bobby Green
at UFC
313.
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In an interview with Sherdog.com,
The Fighting Nerds representative confirmed that Brazilian
soccer idol Neymar Junior motivated him to unleash that
maneuver.
“Neymar always does a sequence of dribbling that confuses his
oponents. I just thought how it could be applied in MMA, and that’s
the movement I did with Green, a sequence of hand feints that
confounded him and permitted the kick to enter,” Ruffy said. “I´ve
been practicing that movement alone for a long time. I have to
avoid using it in sparring because there is no way to control the
speed, which may hurt my training partners.”
To make the move even more impressive, Ruffy revealed that he had
to undergo an urgent meniscus surgery in January that prevented him
from kicking until two weeks before UFC 313.
“It was at the limit,” he said. “I was just allowed to kick in the
last week of the camp.”
The procedure occurred during the first week of January, when
Alex
Pereira was training with the Fighting Nerds camp. Ruffy didn’t
think “Poatan” was at his best in the UFC 313 headliner, when he
lost the title to Magomed
Ankalaev.
“I think Alex was clearly out of rhythm, and I could feel that in
the first minutes of the fight,” Ruffy said. “When you travel a lot
and don’t sleep, your body responds. I truly believe that if he was
70%, he would have knocked out Ankalaev. And I truly believe he
will get the KO in the rematch, even if it’s in Abu Dhabi.”
Regarding the dominance of Dagestani fighters in MMA, Ruffy
recalled his fight on
Dana White’s Contender Series against Raimond
Magomedaliev.
“That was certainly the most difficult moment of my career,” Ruffy
recalled. “I was invited on short notice to fight in a higher
weight class, in front of Dana White against the guy the
lightweight champion pointed to as his best sparring partner and
future welterweight champion.”
To make things worse, two days before the trip his wife gave birth
to their first baby and had postpartum complications.
“It was really hard, the baby was supposed to come after the
fight,” Ruffy said. “Also it was my first trip to the United
States.”
The pressure only intensified once Ruffy arrived in Las Vegas.
„I remember people in [the UFC Performance Institute] asking, ‘Are
you the guy who will fight Magomedaliev? Good luck.’ But I replied,
‘He is the one who will need luck.’ Actually the turning point for
me is that even not being in UFC, I’ve always trained for the
champions — first [Conor] McGregor, later Khabib [Nurmagomedov] and
then Islam [Makhachev],” Ruffy said. “I studied a lot of their
wrestling game and with the help of my trainer, Flavio
Alvaro, created a way to anticipate the takedowns. You can see
in the fight that Magomedaliev tried, but found out it was better
to let go in order to not get tired.”
Ruffy finished the most difficult fight of his life via TKO in the
third round, impressing White and earning a UFC contract. Ruffy
revealed that The Fighting Nerds will soon have a Dagestani
wrestler working with them in camp.
“He is already in Brazil and already trained with us,” Ruffy said.
“Most important to me will be understanding every movement they do.
Where they place their hands, how they think. Once we understand
that, it will help us a lot.”
Asked about how he sees a fight with Makhachev today, Mauricio was
not shy about his prediction.”
“I know what to do to beat Makhachev, and I think about that
everyday. After fighting Magomedaliev for three rounds, studying a
lot of Khabib´s game and seeing Islam vs Poirier, I have some
certainties,” he said. “Those guys are really strong in the two
first rounds. You must be a specialist in not being submitted in
the first rounds. Once I avoid that, he will have a hard time
striking with me in the third, fourth and fifth rounds.”
While Beneil
Dariush shot down Ruffy’s post-fight callout at UFC 313, the
Brazilian hasn’t changed his opinion on the bout.
“The UFC liked the idea, and I truly believe that fight must
happen,” Ruffy said. “I’m with the telephone in my hands waiting
for my manager to call. One great thing about the UFC is that they
value [good performances].”
Very happy with the recognition from the fans, Ruffy recalled some
meetings that he had lately backstage at UFC events with some of
his idols in the sport.
“I couldn’t believe it when Jon Jones and
Chael
Sonnen came to talk to me,” Ruffy said. “I’ve always studied
Cody
Garbrandt´s movements. He came to talk to me in PI. These kinds
of things pay off every effort I had. That’s why I always encourage
new fighters to train hard and believe in their dreams. God will
help to achieve it.”
Ruffy added that he plans on opening the first Fighting Nerds
branch in the United States.
„It will be in New Hampshire. Soon I´ll have the date,” he said.
“After that one, which I will lead, Pablo Sucupira will open two
other branches in Miami and Vegas.”