Prates claims Ruffy was not himself against BSD

Carlos Prates hints at a deeper reason behind Ruffy's loss

Carlos Prates believes that Mauricio Ruffy’s loss to Benoît Saint Denis doesn’t truly reflect how good his former teammate really is.

Mauricio Ruffy will face Arman Tsarukyan next year and is currently considered a clear underdog. Carlos Prates, however, clearly disagrees and is certain that Mauricio Ruffy is severely underestimated.

Regarding the loss to Benoît Saint Denis, Carlos Prates says it was clearly a one-off, and cryptically hints at more, as if something had really gotten in the way.

“I was there the week of the fight with BSD and I saw what happened, but since Ruffy hasn’t talked about it, I'm not going to talk about it either. I can only guarantee that wasn’t Ruffy in that Octagon”

he said.

In addition, Carlos Prates describes his former teammate as the fighter with the best takedown defense in the gym, and he is convinced that Mauricio Ruffy would once again emerge victorious in a bout against Benoît Saint Denis.

“This guy has the best takedown defense at Fighting Nerds, Benoit is very tough, but if you put Ruffy in there with him 10 times, he wins 12”

he said.

If all of this is true, we can only look forward to the next fight between Mauricio Ruffy and Arman Tsarukyan. With a win, Mauricio Ruffy would make a huge leap up the rankings and be considered a dangerous contender. He’s now training with featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, who will surely prepare him well for the fight.

My interest in the fight has really increased following Carlos Prates’ comments. But I’d be very interested to know what he means when he says that Mauricio Ruffy wasn’t really “present” in his bout against Benoît Saint Denis. I hope there will be more information on that in the future.