This past weekend, one of the most exciting rising stars in the UFC suffered his first defeat inside the Octagon.
While the French fighters on the card all emerged victorious at UFC Paris, it was a tough night for the Fighting Nerds.
Two of the Brazilian team’s top fighters suffered their first defeats since signing to the promotion, with Caio Borralho already speaking on his setback.
Mauricio Ruffy was convincingly beaten by Benoit Saint-Denis in the co-main event on September 6.
The manner of the defeat led to some questions about his potential in the lightweight division, which ‘One Shot’ has now addressed.
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Mauricio Ruffy breaks his silence after suffering the first loss of his UFC career in Paris
After UFC Paris, Din Thomas had questioned whether Mauricio Ruffy’s heart was truly in the fight before he was submitted in the second round.
The Brazilian star had previously produced three wins in a row since signing to the UFC, with his flashy striking marking him out as one to watch.
Ruffy’s heel kick knockout over King Green earlier this year took his stock to a whole new level, but there was a feeling after this past weekend that this jump may have come too quickly for him.
Ruffy responded to some of the criticism in a video posted on his Instagram story where he suggested that there were some factors that significantly impacted his performance.
“Thank you for the concern of so many people here,” Ruffy said, though there could be some slight differences due to the translation from Portuguese to English. “There really happened situations there that I won’t bring here so as not to sound like an excuse. But, for the first time in my life, I step into an Octagon and I don’t have control of my body.
“Literally my body did not respond to me. I won’t explain here what happened, but I can say that I will come back much stronger. I am happy with this learning. On the internet it’s always the same. You win, you are a phenomenon. You lose, and then comes a lot of criticism. But all of this is part of it.”
Ruffy went on to say that he’s happy to have taken this step towards improving despite the setback.
“Absolutely nothing has changed, I’m going to become the UFC champion. That’s my process, I’m going to adjust everything to get up there and never feel that feeling of not being able to fight again. A kiss to all, God bless.”
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The Fighting Nerds will need to quickly put UFC Paris behind them
At the start of 2025, all four of the big stars coming out of the Fighting Nerds in Brazil were undefeated in the UFC.
This has led to them featuring in some highly significant matchups, which as a result, had led to three of them suffering their first losses inside the Octagon.
The only one who is yet to taste defeat in his UFC career returns to action this weekend, with Jean Silva facing Diego Lopes in the main event of Noche UFC.
After a disappointing night in Paris, they are quickly back on the road to try and bring a big win back to Brazil.