Fans aren’t too confident for Mauricio Ruffy’s upcoming fight after seeing his training video.
Earlier this week, it was surprisingly announced that Arman Tsarukyan will take on Mauricio Ruffy in the UFC 331 co-main event on September 19.
Originally, Tsarukyan was set to take on Charles Oliveira in a rematch of their UFC 300 fight but plans changed not long before the announcement.
Despite that, the Armenian reportedly fulfilled a long-awaited promise by accepting the fight against Ruffy.
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Fans react to Ruffy training footage ahead of UFC 331
The Brazilian contender is coming off the back of impressive back-to-back wins over Michael Chandler and Rafael Fiziev, earning his shot at a likely number one contender fight.
‘Ahalkalakets’ on the other hand hasn’t fought since last November when he submitted Dan Hooker in the UFC Qatar main event.
Throughout his UFC tenure thus far, Ruffy has only really had problems when it comes to his ground game and takedown defense.
And that will likely be a part of his game he will have to show off improvements in if he is to walk out of Los Angeles with the win.
With that, fans aren’t too confident in his chances against Tsarukyan after he posted a training video to his social media, showing him striking with his coach.
“Praying for Ruffy & a healthy recovery after Arman wrestle f—- him for 25 minutes,” one fan commented.
“Can’t wait to watch arman nut hug him to death. I’d love to see Arman catch a spinning heel kick to the dome,” another fan said.
“Bros whole camp should be TD defense!!! His striking is damn near flawless… and literally the whole world knows he’ll outstrike Arman… but Arman’s wrestling is just insane!” a third fan stated.
The Brazilian striker left his longtime team the Fighting Nerds last year, and now he trains with featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.
Although his takedown defense looked suspect in his only UFC loss against Benoit Saint-Denis, the Frenchman is the only one to have successfully taken him down.
Michael Chandler and James Llontop both attempted to take him down but both were unsuccessful, leading to his takedown defense rate climbing to 86%.
In the video, Ruffy was training in the iconic shorts that used to be donned by UFC legend, Chuck Liddell.
“Man I wish fighters could come out in their own shorts with their own sponsors still,” a fourth fan said.
“None of this will help when Arman takes him down and strangles him,” another fan commented.
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