Tsarukyan adjusts to Ruffy and finds the finish

Ruffy frustrates Tsarukyan before the late first-round finish

Mauricio Ruffy showed a significantly improved takedown defense against Arman Tsarukyan, but didn't expect the fight to end at the end of the first round.

Arman Tsarukyan stopped Mauricio Ruffy last Saturday with an elbow at 4:56 of the first round. This victory was quite significant for Arman Tsarukyan, as it incredibly solidified his title position in the lightweight division. Mauricio Ruffy, on the other hand, suffered the second loss of his career. After the bout, many were surprised that Arman Tsarukyan could be so dangerous even without his usual takedowns. Many analyzed the fight to figure out exactly how he did it, including Pedro Rizzo and Renato Moicano.

Rizzo, the former heavyweight title challenger, even praised Mauricio Ruffy’s skills, until he got around to discussing Arman Tsarukyan’s subsequent response. He said that Mauricio Ruffy probably focused a tad too much on defense and was then overwhelmed by Arman Tsarukyan’s reaction to it. However, he also defends the Brazilian, explicitly noting that everything happens so quickly in the Octagon and that making quick adjustments is incredibly difficult. Renato Moicano had a similar take on the fight. He said:

“When Ruffy started letting his hands go and frustrating Arman’s takedowns, he got desperate. I started seeing Tsarukyan’s eye swelling up. But Arman, besides being versatile on the feet and having great cardio, is very aggressive. He kept his composure and started using feints until he got into the clinch and began attacking with elbows, and one of them ended the fight”

Originally, Renato Moicano was even supposed to fight on the same card as the two of them, but his scheduled opponent, Brian Ortega, had to withdraw due to a cut above his eye. Now he’ll likely face Tom Nolan at the end of the year. What do you think of these highlights from this really good, but short, bout?