A
change of scenery did Mauricio Ruffy some good ahead of UFC 325. |
Getty/UFC
After rebounding from a loss to Benoit St.
Denis with a impressive TKO win over Rafael
Fiziev last Saturday at
UFC 325, Mauricio
Ruffy revealed how important it was for him to spend two months
training with featherweight champion Alexander
Volkanovski in Australia.
“In my mind I had a very good takedown defense — at least that what
I´ve always heard. But after my last fight, I decided to go after
improvement. Those two months in Australia were really important.
Training with Volkanovski, I found out that I know nothing about
grappling,” Ruffy told Laerte Viana.
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Ruffy also praised the
UFC for having confidence in him after his first loss within
the promotion.
“They trusted in my potential and gave me a more difficult opponent
than the previous one,” he said.
An Illness Scare
After beating Fiziev and winning a $100,000 “Performance of the
Night” bous, Ruffy revealed that he almost had to withdraw from the
fight due to illness.
“If I had lost, I would never have opened up about that, but I
spent four days in a bed shaking with fever,” Ruffy said. “I was
weighting 76 kilograms (167 pounds), but due to the medicines I
took I went back up to 80 kilograms (176 pounds), but fortunately I
was able to recover.”
During the interview, Ruffy’s right hand appeared to be very
swollen. The Brazilian said the even if his hand is broken he
expects to be available for the UFC White House card in June.