Michael Chandler: Ruffy 'better than a lot of people think,' beats Tsarukyan - MMA Junkie
Michael Chandler smells an upset in the UFC 331 co-main event.
Arman Tsarukyan (23-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) takes on Mauricio Ruffy (14-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) in Saturday's five-round co-main event (Paramount+) at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
Tsarukyan, who withdrew from his UFC 311 title fight just a day before, is a sizable favorite over Ruffy. Chandler knows first hand how slick and powerful Ruffy's striking is when he was on the receiving end of a first-round TKO at UFC Freedom 250 in June. While Tsarukyan has remained active with numerous grappling matches, Chandler (23-11 MMA, 2-6 UFC) thinks Ruffy's confidence will help him prevail.
"I think Ruffy," Chandler said on "The Ariel Helwani Show." "I think Arman is another one of those guys where you're like, he is good, and he's stayed busy, he's stayed active, he has thrown himself out there. ... Him staying busy with all of that, and then finally getting the opportunity to go back in the octagon and compete – he's got a very, very good recipe to beat Mauricio Ruffy for sure. But can he implement that game plan?
"I think Ruffy catches him with a couple of big shots. I think Arman is obviously going to go for the takedown because he's not going to stand with Ruffy. He's going to put the pressure on him, but as you can see, I wasn't able to do that – or at least I wasn't able to do that on that night. You saw Benoit Saint Denis do it to Ruffy, but Ruffy's got some momentum on his side and Arman's got some ring rust, so to speak. He's stayed busy, and he's stayed active, and eaten McDonald's on private jets and competing and all that stuff, of course. But Mauricio Ruffy is good, and I think he's better than a lot of people think he is. So I've got Ruffy in that one."
Ruffy's lone UFC loss came to Benoit Saint Denis when he was dominated and submitted last September. However, the 30-year-old, who now trains with UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, was able to rebound with back-to-back TKO stoppages of Rafael Fiziev and Chandler.
