Mauricio Ruffy is the odds-on favorite when he co-headlines UFC Paris against French lightweight Benoit Saint Denis this Saturday, and his sole nemesis in mixed martial arts is “happy” for the hype he’s built over the past few years.
Manoel Sousa, who earned a UFC contract following a third-round knockout of Cristian Perez at Dana White’s Contender Series in late August, celebrated Ruffy’s so-far perfect 3-0 run in the UFC, which saw the Fighting Nerds standout beat King Green, James Llontop, and Jamie
Mullarkey.
Sousa and Ruffy fought at a Standout Fighting Tournament in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in November 2019, and went to war with knockdowns for each side in Round 1. “Manumito” rocked Ruffy with a brutal left hand in the second and followed with a barrage of punches before the referee stepped in.
“Speaking of Ruffy, I’m happy for his success,” Sousa told MMA Fighting. “He’s hyped up, on the rise. I don’t know if we’ll meet again, but if we do, we can fight. I know he’s evolved so much, he’s not the same guy — but as he has evolved, I have also evolved in training and experience. The more you fight, as time goes by, you get more experienced. If we happen to meet again, we will fight.”
Watch the fight below.
Ruffy joined the UFC after stopping Raimond Magomedaliev on DWCS in October 2023. Sousa was expected to be on the show a year before Ruffy, but a contract with PFL stopped him from taking the opportunity. Sousa filed a lawsuit against PFL in 2023, but eventually reached a deal to compete for them under the Bellator banner in 2024.
“It’s like a movie going on your head,” Sousa said of the entire saga. “So much went on over these past years, PFL and Bellator. I was supposed to fight at the Contender years ago, but that didn’t work because of the manager I had at the time, who f*cked my life up and slowed me down, but it’s all in God’s time. What matters is that we got the [UFC] contract now. I come here more experienced. I’ll have less pressure when I fight in the UFC [because] I’ve been through a lot.”
Sousa had to rally against Perez to get the late finish and earn the contract, but felt confident all the way through.
“I expected him to come to strike with me because he’s a Mexican and Mexicans like to box, so I thought he would come to war,” Sousa said. “I was surprised, but it was a great fight. We have to make things happen. I was very relaxed when he took me down, and I saw he was wasting too much energy on the ground. I thought, ‘He’ll get tired, and I’ll knock this guy out when I get back up.’ I was so sure that I was going to knock that guy out that I didn’t stay passive on the ground. I attacked with a kimura, Americana, and even heard his arm pop. I told the referee, but he wouldn’t understand me [in Portuguese], so I let it slide.”
Finally, a UFC fighter, the Brazilian lightweight said he volunteered to be part of the Rio de Janeiro card on Oct. 11, but was told it’s highly unlikely. Sousa is targeting a debut for later this year.
“When the [DWCS] fight was over, I ran to Dana and said in Portuguese, ‘I’m a different animal,’” Sousa said. “I knew that would work.”
