Mauricio Ruffy thinks he’s a couple of good wins away from getting his desired UFC lightweight title fight with Ilia Topuria.
Ruffy (12-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) takes on Benoit Saint Denis (14-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) in a lightweight bout that co-headlines Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 258 (ESPN+) at Accor Arena in Paris.
Ruffy has just three fights in the UFC, including a Knockout of the Year contender over King Green at UFC 313. However, if he continues to deliver spectacular performances like that one, the Brazilian sees himself leapfrogging numerous contenders.
“That’s a fight I would really like,” Ruffy told reporters of Topuria through an interpreter during Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night 258 media day. “I have a lot of praise for Topuria inside and outside of the cage. He’s a family man, he’s always with his wife, he’s a good guy, he fights well. So yeah, that’s a fight that I’d really like.
“And I really feel like a good performance can get you far in the UFC. I feel like the rankings don’t really mean much. You see guys coming in and fighting a top-10 guy in the case of ‘Pitbull’ (Freire) this week or guys fighting for the title very quickly. So, I do think a performance can get me there quicker, and fans want to watch Mauricio Ruffy and Ilia Topuria.”
Ruffy envisions a quick path to the top, but does he still see Topuria as UFC lightweight champion when he gets there?
“There’s a lot going on, and you see guys really thinking of making history for themselves and thinking of their legacy, guys who become champion and don’t really want to defend their belts,” Ruffy said. “They want to grab other belts. You see a guy like Islam (Makhachev), who had a few title defenses, and he was considered the No. 2 in the world. So, I’m sure Topuria has his things planned out for himself. I don’t know if he’s going to stay at lightweight, but we’ll see.
“And I don’t think a guy who holds onto you for 25 minutes should be considered the best in the world. We have guys like Topuria, who could play jiu-jitsu, wrestling, knocks guys out. Anderson Silva, Jon Jones, all these guys have put on a great show, and I don’t think that’s what the fans really deserve to watch somebody being held for 25 minutes. I have a saying: ‘Train sambo if you want to put on boring fights.'”
