Mauricio Ruffy certain he'll knock out Arman Tsarukyan, secure title shot at UFC 331
Mauricio Ruffy talks to MMA Junkie and other reporters about his UFC 331 co-main event with Arman Tsarukyan prior to Friday's press conference in Philadelphia.
Video Transcript
You guys good?
Are we good here?
Okay.
Well, Mauricio, I guess you weren't the name everyone was expecting to fight Arman Tsarukyan in Los Angeles.
So I guess, what's it been like for you since the announcement, and were you in the running, and maybe we just weren't aware of it?
Voc era um nome que as pessoas no esperavam que ia lutar contra o Arman Tsarukyan.
Foi uma coisa que foi inesperada pra voc ou talvez a gente s no sabia que voc tava no preo pra essa luta?
Cara, eu j tava esperando uma grande luta.
O UFC falou comigo, n, da maneira como eu ganhei, como eu venho ganhando os ltimos lutadores, n, da maneira como eles no foram derrotados ainda.
Ento, eles me pediram pra que eu aguardasse.
Viria uma grande luta.
E por isso que eu j tinha ido pra Tailndia treinar, sabia que viria grandes desafios e chegou.
E fiquei feliz por isso.
I knew it was a great fight coming.
They said they were gonna give me a great fight.
Because of the way that I beat fighters in my previous fights, I beat them in ways that people hadn't beaten them before.
So we were waiting in the wings.
Even though I didn't have a fight, I went to Thailand to start training for it.
We knew something great was coming, and here I am.
I'm ready and excited about this fight.
You've fought some big names in the UFC, but Arman is arguably the most popular fighter outside of the UFC right now, just given all his streaming and all of his social media presence.
Has this felt differently?
Has this felt bigger, given the amount of eyeballs that will probably watch this fight and have never watched MMA before?
Voc j lutou contra grandes nomes no UFC, mas por tudo que o Arman t fazendo, a questo de ser viral, a questo de se expor a fora do mundo do MMA, ele se tornou uma das maiores estrelas fora do mundo do MMA.
Sente uma, existe um, uma coisa assim mais grande.
Voc sente que o palco diferente, que um cara, p, de repente conhecido por muito mais coisas e muitos olhos vo t olhando pra essa luta, que no olharam pro MMA antes, que no viram por causa dele?
Cara, acredito que sim, vai ser bom isso, n, atrair muitos olhos, , pra luta.
Mas quando a gente entra ali dentro daquela gaiola ali, porrada, n, como qualquer outra luta, n?
Ento vai ser muito legal atrair muitos olhos pra luta.
E, p, por isso que eu aceitei a luta, n. Aceitei a luta faltando trinta dias a, no s pela luta, mas pela oportunidade.
Quem vencer vai direto disputar o ttulo, n. O prprio UFC falou, Justin Gate tambm falou.
Ento vamo l, t muito animado pra essa, pra essa luta a. I think it's gonna be good for everybody to have all those eyeballs on the fight.
But, you know, whenever we close those doors out there, it's a brawl, man.
We just go at it.
So, um, very excited about the fight.
Also, we talked about the UFC.
The UFC has said it.
This is a straight shot to the title.
Um, that's why I accepted this fight on pretty much just over thirty-day notice.
Um, very excited about the opportunity, the fight, and what's gonna come.
It's a straight shot to the title for us.
We just spoke with Arman a few minutes ago, and he said: Everyone knows my strategy.
I'm gonna go for the takedown.
I might come in the first round, I may come in the fourth round, but I'm going to shoot on you.
He's obviously done a lot of wrestling outside of the UFC.
So what do you make of Arman's skill set and his confidence that he's gonna be able to take you down whenever he wants?
O Arman tava aqui agora h pouco e falou: Todo mundo sabe da minha estratgia.
Pode ser no primeiro round, pode ser no quarto round, mas c sabe, eu vou pras perna dele, eu vou levar ele pra baixo.
E outra coisa, ele tem feito muitos eventos de wrestling, mesmo, de luta fora do UFC.
O que que c acha da, do fato que ele falou que vai, essa confiana que ele tem, que ele vai te botar pra baixo na luta?
Eu acho que ele, como lutador, ele tem que ter confiana, n?
Se ele no tiver confiana no trabalho que ele faz, ele no vai subir nem as escadas do octgono.
Ento ele tem que confiar mesmo no que ele t levando.
Eu confio cem por cento no que eu, t levando.
Ento fs do esporte, no percam.
Eu vou entrar l dentro pra nocautear e ele t indo l pra me agarrar.
Vamo ver quem, quem vai vencer essa luta.
I think as a fighter, he needs to have that confidence.
If he didn't have the confidence, why go up the stairs into that octagon?
All of us go in there when we want something, we want to win, we have the confidence for that.
I'll tell you what, uh, I get into that octagon to knock people out.
He said he's gonna get into the octagon to basically grab me.
Uh, fans, it's gonna be a great fight.
Uh, you can wait on it.
Just last one for me to go off of that.
Arman has said he thinks he needs to finish you to guarantee the title shot, because in his mind, nothing is guaranteed in this sport.
You just said you're going for the knockout, but with that knockout, is it title shot or bust after that?
O Arman falou que precisa te finalizar, porque ele fala: Nada aqui nesse esporte garantido.
Ento preciso causar uma boa impresso.
Isto posto, pra voc tambm, voc falou que c vai nocautear.
C acha que isso mesmo?
Eu vou nocautear justamente pra no deixar dvida, que o ttulo, o, o, o, a chance pro ttulo minha prxima.
, eu no quero desprezar ele como lutador, nem vir aqui e falar, falar demais, mas, , no t garantindo que eu vou nocautear, mas eu entro l pra nocautear.
No tem acordo com relao a isso.
Eu no quero sair de l de cima se no for com a vitria por, por nocaute.
No sou o tipo de lutador que deixa a luta na mo do juiz, ento eu vou l pra nocautear.
No estou garantindo que eu v nocautear, mas vou buscar isso o tempo todo.
Um, I, I don't like to gu-- I, I don't wanna talk too much.
I don't want to underestimate the guy.
Um, but I get into that octagon aiming for a knockout.
That's what I'm going to look for.
There's no deal for me.
There's no agreement on this.
I get into the octagon for that.
Um, and that's what I want to do.
That's why I get into the octagon.
That's what I train for, and I'm gonna be looking for the knockout the entire fight.
I, I feel like a lot of, uh, the analysis around this fight, people are gonna bring up that Benoit Saint Denis fight, and I know you've talked about it before and how you feel you could improve and things coulda gone differently.
But how does the reality of what's gonna play out when you guys get in there differ from the people that say, you know, when somebody tries to grapple you, that you're gonna struggle?
'Cause Arman's a great grappler.
, muito se fala, eu acho que ainda fica aquela coisa da, da, sempre se traz tona a luta contra o Benoit Saint Denis.
A gente sabe que o Arman vai trazer isso, traz os mesmos elementos.
O como, o que, o que que mudou e como que voc v lutando contra um cara agora, depois das experincias que voc passou, agora lutando contra mais esse desafio dum cara que da luta agarrada como o Arman?
Cara, todas, todas as lutas que eu fao, os planos o mesmo, n. Vim me derrubar, me agarrar, n. Eu tenho trabalhado nisso, tenho me colocado em zona de desconforto Eu t aqui pra me tornar um lutador melhor.
Ento, , todos os desafios de melhoras, eu vou pra academia e busco melhorar, eu busco evoluir.
E essa luta vai ser uma oportunidade pra me mostrar, , pra mim mesmo, no pra ningum, nem, nem diretamente pros fs, mas pra mim, pra mim, quanto que a minha dedicao tem me ajudado.
Eu t aprendendo esse esporte, n?
E t gostando do que eu t vendo.
E vamos l, vamos buscar evoluir e mostrar mais uma vez a que continuamos evoluindo.
Every fight's the same.
Every time a fight is over, I think of how can I improve.
I know that people are gonna try to take me down, and that's what happens.
So I go back to the gym, you try to get better, you try to get better.
Uh, you, you work on it.
You know, I, I, I like what I'm seeing from the improvement that I've had.
You've seen from the other fights.
I'm gonna try to get the knockout, and I feel that I'm, that I have evolved in the sport.
I'm learning the sport little by little, but that's what we're gonna do.
We're gonna go in there, train, uh, to make sure that we got that knockout.
And that's what I'm getting into the Octagon to knock him out.
Just, just one for me.
I was speaking with Arman earlier, and he said he was originally supposed to get the fight with Charles Oliveira.
So he was training to actually strike with Charles Oliveira.
He was gonna get in there, and his training camp was he was gonna get in there and strike with him.
When he found out he was getting your name, he completely switched his training camp back to wrestling.
So what does that say about your striking that he had to completely change up his training camp?
Because Charles is a good, a very good striker in his own.
, uma pergunta s pro Sean.
, o Arman veio aqui e falou o seguinte: "A luta tava basicamente certa entre eu e o Charles.
Eu estava treinando pra trocar com o Charles, pra ir pra trocao com ele.
Assim que deu o nome do Roof, eu tive que mudar minha estratgia e eu mudei pra wrestling.
Eu vou botar ele pra baixo."
O que que isso fala sobre o receio que ele tem e o perigo que voc traz na trocao, que ele simplesmente falou: "No, com ele eu no vou trocar.
Eu vou botar ele pra baixo, porque ali no , no minha praia."
Ah, pra mim no muda nada.
, nenhum elogio da parte dele ou crtica de ningum vai mudar a minha forma de pensar.
Eu sou um lutador muito srio quando eu entro pra lutar e eu vou levar isso, com muita seriedade.
Eu, eu tenho um plano pra nocautear os meus adversrios.
Eu vou entrar acreditando cem por cento nisso e que vena o melhor.
Ele tem os mritos dele, eu tenho os meus.
E como eu falei mais cedo, quem vai, quem pode mais, chora menos.
I'm, I-- It doesn't matter what people say, and I don't even take a compliment, a comment, a critique, or a complaint from another fighter to change.
I have a plan.
I have a plan to knock my opponents out, and that's what I'm gonna do.
I have a plan to knock them out.
I always have a p- plan to knock my opponents out, and it doesn't matter what comes from the other side.
As we like to say, I wanna knock people out, and like we, we like to say in Brazil, "Those who can more, cry less."
Good luck, man.
Thank you.
Thanks.
Appreciate you.
