{"id":870457,"date":"2026-08-27T16:56:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T16:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/870457\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T16:56:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T16:56:10","slug":"mauricio-ruffy-expects-title-shot-with-arman-tsarukyan-win-at-ufc-331","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/870457\/","title":{"rendered":"Mauricio Ruffy expects title shot with Arman Tsarukyan win at UFC 331"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Mauricio Ruffy has a chance to insert his name in the conversation for a shot at the UFC lightweight champion when he enters the octagon to battle Arman Tsarukyan in the co-main event of UFC 331 on Sept. 19, and he jumped on the opportunity knowing the matchup is seen by many as a tricky one style-wise.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Ruffy is one of the most flashy knockout artists in UFC today, having scored 13 of his 14 MMA wins by knockout, including devastating finishes against Michael Chandler, Rafael Fiziev and King Green under the UFC banner. Ruffy\u2019s sole defeat in the UFC came against Benoit Saint Denis, when he was outgrappled and tapped out in Paris in 2025. Tsarukyan poses a similar threat, especially after spending the last 15 months competing more in wrestling and grappling matches than MMA fights.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">\u201c[My opponent\u2019s] plan is the same every time I fight, to come grab me and take me down,\u201d Ruffy told the media during UFC 330 fight week in Philadelphia. \u201cI\u2019ve been working on this, putting myself out of comfort zone. I\u2019m here to become a better fighter. I go tot he gym to try and get better and evolve, and this fight is an opportunity to show myself, not anyone else or fans, how my dedication has helped me. I\u2019m still learning this sport, and I like what I\u2019m seeing. Let\u2019s continue to show that we continue to evolve.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Ruffy expected the UFC to present him with \u201ca great fight\u201d after he floored Michael Chandler at the UFC White House card and finished previous opponents \u201cin ways that people hadn\u2019t beaten them before,\u201d and the goal remains the same when he faces Tsarukyan in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">\u201cI have a plan to knock my opponents out and that\u2019s what I\u2019m going to do,\u201d Ruffy said. \u201cI\u2019m not saying I will knock them out, but I will always try to knock them out. I always have a plan to knock my opponents out and it doesn\u2019t matter what comes from the other side. And like we like to say in Brazil, those who can do more, cry less.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Tsarukyan was originally expected to face Charles Oliveira in his next bout, but that changed after Oliveira\u2019s teammate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmafighting.com\/ufc\/503019\/ufc-flyweight-allan-nascimento-dead-at-34\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Allan Nascimento passed away earlier this month<\/a>. UFC champion Justin Gaethje is likely to defend his title in 2027, and beating a popular name in Tsarukyan could boost Ruffy straight into a championship fight next year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">\u201cI think it\u2019s going to be good for everybody to have all those eyeballs on the fight,\u201d Ruffy said. \u201cBut you know, whenever we close those doors out there, it\u2019s a fight, man. We just go at it. That\u2019s why I accepted this fight. I\u2019m very much just over 30 days\u2019 notice. The UFC has said it, Justin Gaethje also said it, this is a straight shot to the title.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">\u201cI don\u2019t want to talk too much,\u201d he continued. \u201cI don\u2019t want to underestimate the guy, but I get into the octagon aiming for a knockout. That\u2019s what I\u2019m going to look for. There\u2019s no deal for me. There\u2019s no agreement on this. I get into the octagon for that. And that\u2019s what I want to do. That\u2019s what I train for. And I\u2019m going to be looking for the knockout the entire fight.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mauricio Ruffy has a chance to insert his name in the conversation for a shot at the UFC&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":870458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,1347,785,85,787,1396],"class_list":["post-870457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-latest-news","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc","tag-ufc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/870458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}