Athletes
Mauricio Ruffy | Studying Abroad
Brazilian Lightweight Talks Training In Australia, Matchup With Rafael Fiziev At UFC 325
Mauricio Ruffy rolled into Paris last September on a massive high but left the “City of Lights” searching for answers, certain that he needed to switch things up in order to reach his full potential inside the Octagon.
The 29-year-old Brazilian entered his clash with Benoît Saint Denis off one of the best performances of the year —a first-round spinning wheel kick knockout of King Green at UFC 313 that stood as the clubhouse leader in the Knockout of the Year race until the summer. It was a blistering return to form for the highly regarded Fighting Nerds representative after a tougher-than-expected decision win over James Llontop, setting up a matchup with the ranked French standout on his home turf, but things didn’t go at all as planned.
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“That fight gave me some teachings, it gave me some lessons I needed to learn towards training harder and getting ready for this fight coming up,” Ruffy said of the fight with Saint Denis, which resulted in a second-round submission loss, just a few days ahead of his return to action against Rafael Fiziev on Saturday at UFC 325 in Sydney, Australia.
From the outset, Ruffy was stymied, and when the fight ended, he looked flabbergasted; completely unsure of what had happened and how to make sure it never happened again. One thing he did know was that staying close to home wasn’t going to go cut it.
“If it was not for that fight, I would not have gone to the lengths I have gone to, which is get out of my comfort zone, look for something new, to look for knowledge and actually leave,” said Ruffy, who has spent the last several months training alongside UFC 325 headliner Alexander Volkanovski. “I can 100-percent say that if it wasn’t for the result of the last fight, I wouldn’t have left home.
“I wouldn’t have left my family, those around me; I have a child that is one, another that is two, and to be far from them, be by myself doing what I’m doing. The result of that fight lit a fire within me to pay the price that is necessary to get through this. I’m very grateful to God for the opportunity that I was given, and I’m very happy with the decision that was made.”
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Ruffy and Volkanovski have been attached at the hip since he made the move to prepare with the featherweight champion and the rest of the standouts set to grace the Octagon at Qudos Bank Arena on Saturday night. They travelled to Las Vegas together in December for the Paramount+ launch event, trained at Bangtao, CKB, and Volk’s home base at Freestyle Fighting Gym.
Being surrounded by that level of talent, that caliber of fighter has a way of rubbing off on you, infusing you with their habits and approaches, but it’s the personal elements about Volkanovski, Israel Adesanya, and others that have resonated most with Ruffy.
“It exceeded any expectations I might have had,” he said of his time training down under. “The thing that surprised me is how simple, how humble these people are. We’re talking about a guy that is the current champion and another that is No. 4 in the world, and they train with you, they give you all the attention and time that is needed. There are times Volk wouldn’t even train on that day, but he would show up to watch me train, help me go through the motions.
“Highly positive, highly impressed,” he added. “I already admired those guys, but now I admire them even more after seeing who they are, how they are.”
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Right now, they’re all fired up and raring to go, Ruffy included.
“It’s that vibe of everybody wants to get their hands on some people right now; we want to beat some people up,” he said with a laugh when asked about heading into action as a pack this weekend. “Everyone is ready to go and show the work. You’re gonna see what everyone is about. To each their own in terms of the way they deal with this, but all of us want to go out there.”
He made special note of Volkanovski, who enters the first title defense of his second reign atop the featherweight division in a rematch with Diego Lopes, acknowledging that the 37-year-old is an old hand at this now. The fact that nothing about the week and the scope of what he’s heading into impacts the champion in the least really spoke to Ruffy, who is still figuring out his own way of navigating fight week and the pressure that comes with competing at this level, but believes he’s more prepared after his ANZ sabbatical.
“I’ve approached this in a different manner than I would in the past,” began Ruffy, who carries a 12-2 record with 11 finishes into his clash with Fiziev. “In the last couple days, I’ve relieved the pressure that I have perhaps put on myself in the past. Before, I would look at social media, but I’ve decided not to look at anything. I don’t care for the praise, the criticism; none of that.
“I’m focused on God, my family, and the fight at hand. I’m focused and now more aware, more understanding of how the game is played, what it’s like to be in this fight game and in this organization.
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“I’m learning how my way of doing this, but I want to be inside that Octagon and show my work. I’m very, very excited about the opportunity.”
Saturday’s matchup with Fiziev feels like a testament to how highly people think of Ruffy and his upside in the division, as rarely do athletes coming off one-sided setbacks get the chance to fight forward, especially in a weight class as deep and talented as lightweight.
Fiziev enters off a unanimous decision win over Ignacio Bahamondes in Baku, Azerbaijan, in June and is stationed at No. 9 in the rankings, five spots ahead of Ruffy. Like his Brazilian counterpart, the Tiger Muay Thai representative is a creative and dangerous striker, leading many to believe this will be an absolute barnburner.
Though he’s thrilled for the chance to share the cage with Fiziev, Ruffy doesn’t have any specific expectations or ideas about how the fight will play out. Instead, he’s simply ready to step into the fire, feel things out, and go from there, confident that he has what it takes to get the job done.
“I’m very happy with the opportunity the UFC has given me against a guy that has been up in the rankings for that long,” he said of facing Fiziev. “I just think it’s a good opponent, somebody who presents a good opportunity to come back. I’m very excited to have this opportunity and to show my best to people.
“I don’t know how I get my hand raised because I like to see where the fight goes. Once we get in there, we have to study and see how things are going. What I can tell you is that I’m a more experienced fighter, someone who is more aware right now, so I do have the qualities to turn that fight into what I want.
“I’m confident in my abilities, in my skills; I know how dangerous and unpredictable I am as a fighter,” he added. “I know what I’m capable of in there and know that once that fight starts, I’m very capable of coming out with a win, and I’m very excited about that.”
UFC 325: Volkanovski vs Lopes 2 took place live from Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia on January 31, 2026. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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