UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski revealed his only regret with his teammate, UFC lightweight contender Mauricio Ruffy.
Ruffy, who trains alongside Volkanovski in Australia, fought Arman Tsarukyan last month at UFC 331 in the biggest fight of his career to date.
But while the fight was going somewhat well for Ruffy, as he was stuffing all over Tsarukyan’s takedown attempts, he was knocked out with a vicious elbow near the end of the first round of the fight, ending his hype train.
Alexander Volkanovski Wishes Mauricio Ruffy Had More Time to Prepare
Speaking on the “Precision Podcast” alongside former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, who is also training with Volkanovski these days, the UFC featherweight champion admitted that his only regret about Ruffy fighting Tsarukyan is that he didn’t have more time to prepare to fight one of the very best lightweight fighters in the world.
“For you to go through the layers and layers and layers of things, like I would’ve loved to have a few more camps before an Arman. But, with how quickly Ruffy was getting better in the takedown defense, when I heard about the short notice fight with him I’m like I’d rather a few more camps but he’s obviously taken it all in really well,” Volkanovski said (via Bloody Elbow).
What’s Next for Mauricio Ruffy?
Coming off an absolutely devastating loss to Tsarukyan, it’s fair to say that Ruffy will sit out the remainder of 2026 and hopefully return to the Octagon in 2027.
It feels like we have seen that while Ruffy is an action fighter, he isn’t an elite lightweight, and the UFC should only be matching him up against other strikers, instead of elite fighters like Tsarukyan or grapplers like Benoit Saint Denis, who handed Ruffy his only other loss inside the Octagon.
For his next fight, one potential fun matchup could be Esteban Ribovics, who just knocked out King Green at UFC 332. Ribovics and Ruffy both prefer to stand and trade, and with both men having knockout wins over Green, a matchup between these two lightweight knockout artists makes a lot of sense.
Alexander Volkanovski Reveals Only Regret With Mauricio Ruffy