Mauricio
Ruffy believes Belal
Muhammad’s loss to Jack
Della Maddalena is a sign of things to come.
In an interview on Laerte Viana’s YouTube channel, Ruffy analyzed
the UFC 315
main event. Muhammad, who has a close relationship with the likes
of Khabib
Nurmagomedov and Islam
Makhachev, struggled to implement his preferred style against
his Australian opponent.
“I’ve seen this fight three times. Maddalena fought very well, very
intelligently, taking the angle and anticipating Belal’s takedowns
and imposing his own,” Ruffy said. “He did exactly what I would do.
Maybe I would land few more counter strikes. The fact is that
fighters are increasingly reading the ugly game of these Russians
and falling less. A natural process of MMA evolution.”
While Muhammad isn’t Russian, his grinding approach isn’t unlike
some of his Dagestani counterparts. Ruffy has plans on creating a
shirt that answers one the Dagestanis made as a taunt to Brazilian
jiu-jitsu.
“Khabib made a shirt saying that if sambo were easy it would be
called jiu-jitsu. I’m going to make another one. If I wanted to
fight ugly, I would train sambo,” Ruffy joked.
With recent events in mind, Ruffy likes Maddalena’s chances against
Makhachev, who vacated the lightweight belt to pursue at title
fight at 170 pounds.
“I believe that Madalena will knock him out,” Ruffy said.