Israel Adesanya helped out Mauricio Ruffy a little for UFC 331.
Ruffy (14-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) faces Arman Tsarukyan (23-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) in an expected No. 1 contender bout, which co-headlines Saturday's event at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles (Paramount+).
Adesanya recently spent some time at City Kickboxing with Ruffy, and got to see some of the things that the slick striker has been working on. Adesanya was especially impressed with Ruffy's first-round TKO of Rafael Fiziev at UFC 325, and explains how he sees similarities with the Tsarukyan fight.
"In this fight, I think Ruffy will be where he was with Fiziev, which was on the backfoot," Adesanya said on his YouTube channel. "Arman will be putting on the pressure just trying to force him to the cage
and go for a takedown. Ruffy's footwork must be elite in this fight. You can't get stuck on the cage with Arman because once he gets to a leg or he gets his arms on your waist and he can just drop down, it's almost a guarantee finish. Ruffy, he knows what to do. I think he can catch Arman.
"It's five rounds. ... In the beginning, if Arman can get a hold of him like (Benoit Saint Denis) did, it will be a problem because he can try and sap his energy. But then again, he can recover. But I think if Ruffy just maintains his distance, footwork and stays off the fence line, he'll be popping Arman and one of them will catch him. If not, when Arman gets tired from trying to take him down later on, Ruffy's going to snipe him. I'm going Ruffy third-round finish."
After finishing Fiziev, Ruffy scored another first-round TKO of Michael Chandler at UFC Freedom 250 in June. The Brazilian has finished 13 of his 14 professional wins by TKO or knockout.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Israel Adesanya: Mauricio Ruffy snipes Arman Tsarukyan in Round 3
