New York City — Despite being a relative newcomer to the UFC, Brazilian lightweight Mauricio Ruffy has become a name to watch for fight fans, as was the case at UFC 309.
That said, the lightweight wasn’t fighting as a lightweight in New York on Saturday. With Charlie Campbell out of the fight, James Llontop of Peru stepped up, with the fight shifted to a 165lb catchweight as a result (with Llontop still coming in just a little heavy).
Whether it was the weight, or simply Llontop’s toughness, he simply would not be put away, despite Ruffy doing major damage, knocking him down at times. “Yeah his head was hard as hell,” Ruffy (11-1) joked following the fight, speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press via translator.
With so much chaos surrounding the fight, “it’s been a mix of learning experiences,” Ruffy admitted. “It took about six months of camp, six months of dieting, six months of getting prepared for a fight that doesn’t happen. So all that stuff, a lot of it, and a mix of learning experiences but I do want to thank the UFC for the opportunity to be here on a card in Madison Square Garden. So I learned a lot, I took a lot from this experience.”
Following a hard-fought victory, Ruffy called out French lightweight Benoit Saint-Denis. He expanded on that callout backstage at MSG.
“I think the guy [BSD] is coming off of two losses, and people are looking at me, people are starting to point their finger going ‘hey this guy is something coming up,'” noted Ruffy. “I think it would be a really good fight. It’s not even coming from me, I think there’s a lot of people on social media who would like that fight. I think it would be a great fight, and I hope he takes it.”
Asked by Cageside Press if he’d be willing to travel to Saint-Denis’ home country of France for the fight, Ruffy replied saying “just call us up. We’re gonna go.”
Watch the full UFC 309 post-fight press conference appearance by Mauricio Ruffy above.
