Mauricio Ruffy had a tough night. So tough that veteran MMA analyst Din Thomas is questioning how good he is.
On Saturday, Benoit Saint Denis ran roughshod over Ruffy in the co-main event of UFC Paris, dominating the fight early before submitting Ruffy with a rear-naked choke/neck crank in the second round. It was the first loss of Ruffy’s UFC career and a big setback for the man many fans had started to believe may be a future champion. And that includes Thomas.
“I’ve been high on Ruffy since he hit the stage,” Thomas said on the UFC Paris Post Show. “We’ve been making comparisons between him and Conor McGregor, and I expected that from Ruffy. I said this guy, especially fighting a guy that gets wild like Benoit Saint Denis, I thought he would be able to pick him apart. I thought he was going to do something fascinating tonight, and the first body kick shook Ruffy up. Then the head kick shook him up. And I think that took Ruffy so far out of his game, he did not want to fight anymore.”
Ruffy entered the UFC from Contender Series last year, scoring wins over Jamie Mullarkey and James Llontop before his breakthrough performance in March where he knocked out King Green with a spinning wheel kick at UFC 313.
His breakout was not unlike Saint Denis’s own rise up the lightweight rankings, before stumbling against Dustin Poirier and Renato Moicano in back-to-back fights. And after Saturday, Thomas admits to being wrong about both men.
“He didn’t want to be out there anymore, and it surprised me,” Thomas said. “He made me eat my words. And I’m always happy when these guys can make me eat my words, because that means there’s something that I don’t know. I own up to it. Benoit Saint Denis made me eat my words tonight. I was uncomfortable talking to Benoit Saint Denis about the fight, because I thought he was going to get beat up. Tonight he made me eat my words.
“And Mauricio Ruffy also made me eat my words. Maybe he’s not as good as we thought he was. Yet. He’s still got some work to do. But tonight he did not show up and he did not look like he wanted to be out there.”
This is not the first time Thomas has been critical of Ruffy. “One Shot” did not dazzle in his win over Llontop at UFC 309, prompting Thomas to suggest the moment was too big for the Fighting Nerds product.
Fortunately for Ruffy, he rebounded from that listless win with his Knockout of the Year contender over King in his next fight, so perhaps the Brazilian fighter’s next bout will see him back on track quickly.
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