Mauricio
Ruffy enters the biggest fight of his career as a sizable
underdog, but the Brazilian’s former and current team are confident
he has the tools to spring an upset.
Ruffy will meet Arman
Tsarukyan in the co-headliner of the
Ultimate Fighting Championship’s upcoming event in Los Angeles.
His former coach,
Fighting Nerds’ Pablo Sucupira, and his new teammate, UFC
featherweight champ Alexander
Volkanovski, view the matchup as the perfect opportunity to
make a statement.
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Pablo Sucupira backs Mauricio Ruffy to score a statement
knockout against Arman Tsarukyan
Sucupira claims the odds might reflect an overemphasis on Ruffy’s
loss to Benoit St.
Denis, in which the former was taken down and finished. The
Brazilian coach explained that the loss to St. Denis was an outlier
and that the likes of Michael
Chandler and Rafael
Fiziev failed to secure takedowns against Ruffy.
“I don’t just think Ruffy is going to win; I think he’s going to
send a message by knocking Arman out,” Sucupira told Sherdog.
“Michael Chandler and [Rafael] Fiziev also tried, but nobody was
able to take him down.”
Volkanovski, who’s taken Ruffy under his wing and trained with him
extensively in preparation for UFC
331, has high praise for the lightweight’s improved takedown
defense.
“He is on another level concerning takedown defense,” Volkanovski
said in the UFC 331 “Countdown” preview. “It’s going to be very
important with guys like Arman, probably one of the best wrestlers
in the UFC. But if you’re going for shots and you know that’s your
only chance to grab a hold of him and that’s not happening, and all
of a sudden, you’ve got Ruffy in your face, that’s a big, big, big
problem to have.”