Full transcript
0:00All right, UFC 330 co-main event
0:03Mauricio Ruufy and Arman Tsarukyan.
0:17Obviously, I'm going there's going to be
0:18some stuff I can talk about, but there's
0:19going to be some stuff that I can't go
0:21into too much detail. I've obviously
0:22have Ruufy while I'm training for my
0:25camp. He's doing a his camp with us as
0:27well. It's pretty obvious where, you
0:29know, we can talk about where Ruufy
0:30wants this and we can talk about where
0:32we think Arman's going to want this. So,
0:34there's still plenty we can talk about.
0:36Let's get into it. When we talk about
0:37Ruufy's style, Ruufy literally has his
0:40own style and very good at it. You know,
0:42most things you're going to teach is
0:43going to be, you know, your straight
0:44punches. When you're slipping, you're
0:46slipping here. You know, just you're
0:48usually going to have fundamentals that
0:50you're always going to stick by purely
0:52because of, you know, you're in a safe
0:54position here. You're more balanced here
0:56and just stuff like that. Cuz Ruufy's
0:58done this whole style, his own style for
1:00so long, he's been able to make it work
1:04perfectly for him. I remember seeing a
1:05video of Arman training and he had
1:07someone in the background, you know,
1:09trying to trying to do some sort of
1:12Ruufy sort of style. I'm like, "Yeah,
1:14you might try and do some certain things
1:15that he does, but you don't know how to
1:17approach it. You don't know, you know,
1:19you don't have the reactions that Ruufy
1:21has. You know, you're trying to do all
1:23these, you know, looking uppercuts and
1:24all these cool things that look look
1:26unreal and they are unreal, but do you
1:28really have the eye for them when you're
1:29doing them in training? Do you really
1:30know how to set it up? Do you really
1:33know the best time to throw them? Do you
1:35like do you is your eye that good that
1:37every time this shoulder comes a little
1:39bit forward, you know, I know the two's
1:41coming and I know he's going to have his
1:43weight here and his head here. That's
1:44why I come up this way. I have my head
1:46slightly here. You know you got to mean
1:47there's so many different little
1:50variables of this and how to perfect it.
1:53We know Ruufy's perfected this style,
1:55literally. And I believe he's one of the
1:57best strikers in the UFC. So, Arman's
1:59going to have big trouble if he cuz
2:01Arman's still got some pretty good
2:02striking. He loves his kicks, he loves
2:04his
2:05like high kicks, he's quite flexible.
2:07You've seen him do axe kicks and
2:08whatnot. He's got some good combos. He
2:10used to be maybe a little more
2:12one-dimensional. He's starting to mix
2:14the combos up
2:15a little bit better now. But at the same
2:17time, you know, you need to be in the
2:18right position to to throw the to throw
2:20these shots. Rufie, as I said, so cool,
2:23good at dictating where he wants the
2:25fight to be, especially on the feet.
2:26Arman can be quite comfortable to fire
2:28into his takedowns. And you know, when
2:30he's standing in front of you, like and
2:32he's got a clear shot, he'll take him.
2:33Rufie doesn't mind standing in front of
2:35you, right? Rufie lets you sort of be
2:37like, all right, try and hit me. I want
2:38you to try and hit me. Most people know
2:40that and they don't want to they don't
2:42want to fire cuz they know that they're
2:43going to get countered. And they start
2:45to really really second-guess themselves
2:47and panic and start making bad
2:48decisions. I believe this is something
2:50that that might happen with with Arman.
2:52I think Arman's going to know that I
2:54can't get drawn into this fight, but at
2:55the same time he's going to want to
2:56shoot. Oh, yeah, the you know, he's
2:58close enough, I might be able to get to
3:00to his hips. And he's very good with his
3:01takedowns. But when Rufie comes in, he's
3:04like and his head's nice and close, so
3:06you feel like you're in range, over his
3:08feet almost, like this. And he's very
3:10good at, you know, getting himself just
3:12out of range. He's got these freakishly
3:14long arms. So, he's really good at
3:15pulling your your punches out of you and
3:18then just countering. You're going to
3:19feel like the shot's there, able to pull
3:22millimeters out of the way and then just
3:24counter. Or counter at the same time
3:26you're firing, like it's just it's
3:28incredible what he can do. I believe
3:30Arman's going to be forced to panic
3:31punch here and there. He's going to want
3:33to shoot. Obviously, we know this,
3:35right? People are going to keep bringing
3:36up BSD. Even though I feel like
3:39Rufie still did some all right stuff
3:41there, there was a couple of things he
3:42needed to work on and a little bit of a
3:45mindset around certain things as well.
3:47We all know Rufie wants to keep it to on
3:50on feet. So, uh you know, when we're in
3:52these positions
3:54keeping space is going to be important,
3:56right? Keeping space, not giving him
3:58the hips. BSD was able to get in on the
4:00hips pretty comfortably and then be able
4:02to turn him over and get takedowns. When
4:05Rufiy was in certain takedowns, he was
4:07like sort of having him there. He's
4:08still quite tricky this with here, but
4:10when you're strong and you're able to
4:12get your hips and arms and everything
4:15tied into your opponent and then you got
4:16a nice good body lock grip, very easy
4:19for me to manipulate or, you know,
4:21mechanically, you know, I might have a
4:23grip, might pull you certain ways, have
4:26a leg somewhere and then turn you over
4:28cuz you're too upright. You can't post
4:31now cuz I was able to put a knee frame
4:33or something in the way. So, these are
4:35things that you you don't really want to
4:36be caught with with Armen, with anyone,
4:38especially if you want to keep it
4:39standard. He's going to try and grab
4:41them single legs. All these things are
4:43are stuff that we're just obviously
4:45working planning on on. I think Armen's
4:47going to have a hard time finding the
4:50easy shots, sort of panicking, being
4:52forced to fight a fight he's not
4:53comfortable with, trying to shoot. If
4:55they don't come, you're going to start
4:57to see some really really big mistakes
4:59from Armen. Or is he going to start
5:00shooting more recklessly, getting more
5:02tired, and then you start seeing, you
5:05know, a big finish coming cuz you're
5:07going to see
5:08Armen panic, throw the wrong shots, and
5:10then Rufiy starting to land some big
5:11shots. You want to grab his hips.
5:14Obviously, that's getting very very You
5:15know, you want to get to a takedown.
5:17That's getting very very hard now.
5:19And then he's forcing you to fight this
5:21fight where, you know, I don't want to
5:23just stand there and just be defensive.
5:24Like I still need to work, you know, I
5:26like even with my sparring, I'm just
5:27trying to get my rounds in. I want to
5:28make sure he's getting good work in. I
5:31want to try and be tricky for him.
5:33Uh and, you know, throw things
5:36out there just to keep him on his toes
5:38as well. Realistically, I'll be like I'd
5:40feel much more comfortable just shelling
5:42right up and then wait until I can get a
5:43takedown, but that's a bad idea as well
5:46cuz then you're starting to let just
5:47start spin kicking you and doing all
5:49crazy stuff like this. So, it's very
5:51scary to have him in front of you.
5:52Especially when you know the takedown is
5:53just not not as easy as you sort of
5:56think it is. When you're looking at it,
5:57you're like, "Ah, I reckon I'll get to
5:58the hips." All of a sudden he's in front
5:59of you and you're like, "I don't know if
6:01I want to shoot just yet." Like you
6:03know, the I feel like when I'm going
6:04there, he's already lining me up. I As
6:06soon as I I know as soon as I put my
6:08head in the wrong spot, he's just going
6:09to fire something crazy. So, I need to
6:11find these very very clever ways to try
6:13and get around and get there. And
6:14sometimes it's just too long. It takes
6:17too long. It's a getting A to B is can
6:19feel like a too much of a risk. Can
6:21Arman get to him? Of course, it's a
6:23fight. If he's sitting there and he's
6:25ready for it, he's going to find it
6:26hard. Does Arman do the right right
6:29thing and draw a counter out of him? Uh
6:32Rufiy commits and then he's timed the
6:34shot perfectly to get in on the hips.
6:36All right, these things happen. It's
6:38MMA. Is Rufiy that little bit more
6:39worried about the takedown and then he
6:41comes up with shots and then he tries to
6:43shoot and then he goes to take the you
6:44know, does he mix it up? Which you I'm
6:46sure Arman's going to do. Does he get to
6:48a leg? Does he get to a hip? This is
6:49something I have to I've got to talk
6:51about. Arman's really really good there.
6:52Very strong. Very good. If you give him
6:55the grips and let him hold nice and
6:57tightly, there's a good chance you're
6:59going down. He's strong. He can lift you
7:00up. He can pull you up. He can drag you
7:02down. He can run the pipe sort of like
7:03he's got a lot of options when he's got
7:06your hips. Got good control of your
7:08hips. In the Charles Oliveira fight, he
7:10obviously had some big problems, but had
7:12some success because of Charles's style.
7:15And when I say that, we know Charles is
7:17a very strong, but we know he's very
7:18good in the guard. We know he's
7:19submission heavy. You're taking him
7:22down, he's going to usually look for a
7:23submission. He stopped doing that
7:25halfway through the fight. Well, not as
7:26much. The most success that Charles had
7:29was when he decided to be like, "You
7:30know what? Even when you're stuck on the
7:31ground." Let's chat about this. Charles
7:34got gets his own takedown and ends up
7:36getting on top of
7:37Arman.
7:38Um and has him in the choke, has a big
7:40big trouble. Eventually goes for
7:43submissions, eventually ends up on the
7:44bottom. See, this is what This is a big
7:46problem. This is how he ends up, you
7:47could say, losing that round. Had him in
7:49really, really big trouble, and then
7:51Arman was able to get success because he
7:54kept that grapple going. Obviously,
7:55Charles can keep the grapple going
7:57because he's so good, right? But, uh he
7:59didn't get the submission. Arman was
8:01tough and gritted through it, and was
8:03able to end up on top. Obviously,
8:05Charles likes the guard. Then, Arman was
8:06able to land some big elbows. Charles
8:08wants to make space and follow up legs.
8:10So, we've got to sort of cage them hips
8:12really well. Fire elbows, fire punches
8:14when we can. But, as soon as Charles
8:17would make space, as soon as he made
8:19space with his hips and was able to, you
8:21know, sort of turn his hips to the
8:22floor, get to his feet, and sort of stay
8:24on that wizard, build himself up, he was
8:26able to make space and get up quite
8:27easily. There was another takedown that
8:29Arman got where Charles got up, did well
8:32to get up. It might have been after
8:33that. And then, just hanged on to like a
8:35headlock. Hanged on to this just like
8:37waiting for it. When he turns, I can
8:39maybe go to the guillotine. Again,
8:40submission heavy. Where was he better
8:43off? Maybe turning turning starting to
8:46peel the grips and making space and
8:48getting back out. And then, he ended up
8:49getting taken down there again. Again,
8:51because he wasn't
8:53Oh, I need to desperately break free
8:55here. Because, even though a lot of
8:57people are like, "Ah, you know, Charles
8:58shouldn't have to do that." Yeah, I get
8:59that. But, at the same time, if someone
9:02like Charles decided, "You know what? I
9:04just want to keep this fight standing."
9:05Because, every time he sort of did, he
9:07made done a good job of making space or
9:09not letting
9:11Arman finish takedowns. And I believe
9:13Roofy is just on another level right now
9:16when it comes to his takedown defense.
9:18He's getting real creative. There's a
9:19lot of things that we went over. We've
9:21changed his whole mindset around how he
9:22approaches these sort of situations.
9:25Again, I can't get too much into it. And
9:27now, it's he's an athlete. Like, we show
9:29him certain things and then and give him
9:31a little bit of direction. Now, it's
9:33just in the heat of the moment when
9:35we're trying to give him good looks bad.
9:36We start from bad positions and you
9:38know, we're making him do shark tanks
9:39from bad positions. So, obviously we're
9:41getting in positions where able to
9:42change things and get him uncomfortable.
9:44And the decisions that he's already
9:45making in between those scrambles are
9:48great. Keeping that that balance,
9:49keeping his hips away, keeping them out
9:51of position, and then freeing himself.
9:53How long can someone, you know, Arman's
9:55fit, very fit, but how long do you want
9:57to keep shooting at someone? Cuz that's
9:59the hardest part. When someone's
10:00shooting on you and you're really
10:01hanging on for grips and they're peeling
10:02you off and you're trying to get eager,
10:04ah, they sprawl on you, you get out, and
10:05then you get back to your feet, and then
10:07all of a sudden this guy's back in your
10:08face. That's going to tire you out real
10:10quick. Simple way of putting it in, easy
10:12way for Rufiy to win is uh stop the
10:14takedowns and then knock him out on the
10:15feet. But I just believe that that
10:17that's exactly what's going to happen.
10:19It'll be good if he just obviously gets
10:20a win straight away and gets a knockout.
10:22But I mean, I think it'll be good for
10:23Rufiy to you know, if he gets in these
10:25positions, fight his way out of some of
10:28them and just get a really good feel for
10:29it because I guess this is the toughest
10:31guy in this division that's going to
10:33throw these problems at him. And if he
10:34can handle them with no no problems, who
10:36else is going to give him give uh Rufiy
10:38a problem? That's what I truly do
10:39believe.
10:40>> Do you think if he does get a win like
10:41that, say say he
10:43makes it hard for Arman for for two and
10:45a half rounds,
10:47keeps him away, and then and then gets a
10:48knockout in round three, that that sort
10:50of boosts him more than getting another
10:51win like he did with Chandler? Like if
10:53he
10:53>> Yeah, for sure. Like you got to see some
10:55takedown defense. You got to see a
10:56difference. Like cuz again, a lot of
10:57people going to go back to the BSD
10:58fight. Oh, right, they're going to be
11:00like, he's going to stand. Yeah. Show
11:01them that like, oh, wow. Arman had the
11:04leg. Arman had the hips. Arman was in a
11:06position where he clinched up and was
11:08trying to change uh chain the the
11:10wrestle. And then it just wasn't there.
11:13We're like, he made all these right
11:14decisions, boom, freed himself, back in
11:16his face, and just started teeing off on
11:18him.
11:19Like I mean, how who's going to want to
11:20fight Rufiy after that? It is the
11:22toughest fight in the division.
11:24>> Yeah.
11:24>> Um especially for the Rufiy style that's
11:27always been there. Like I'm glad that uh
11:29we've been able to work with him and
11:30he's doing so much cuz again, it's a
11:31mindset. It's not just takedown defense.
11:34There's a mindset around it. There's
11:36work ethic. It's fighting for every
11:38little position and making if you're
11:41expecting one big fancy sweep that's
11:43going to just all of a sudden turn
11:45things around, no. With someone like
11:47Arman, no chance. That's why I was like
11:49thinking that this fight will eventually
11:51come and like, you know, it would be
11:52good to work with Rufian getting ready
11:54for it. This was probably sooner than I
11:56thought cuz I thought Rufian would have
11:57to fight someone but now he's getting a
11:59number one contender fight already.
12:01Laughing. Obviously, a great opportunity
12:03for him. Toughest fight in the division
12:05purely because it's the biggest
12:06grappling wrestling threat and I truly
12:08do believe that no one else could give
12:11him a problem on the feet. I don't think
12:12anyone obviously it's it's MMA. Anyone
12:15can land a knockout, you know, I I get
12:17that but
12:19that's going to be one tough gig and I
12:21don't even think all the every striker
12:23in the UFC is going to want to try and
12:25take Rufian down. I can guarantee you it
12:27even if they have a little bit of
12:28success. Soon as they start feeling some
12:30of those big shots and then he starts
12:33finding that flow, uh-oh, I better
12:35change levels here. I better I better
12:36mix things up. I you know, I need to
12:38keep him guessing. The more more work I
12:40see Rufian doing and the improvements
12:42that I'm seeing, big big problems.
12:44Again, I can't give too much away. I've
12:46shown you enough but this is probably a
12:47little more common knowledge for higher
12:50level grapplers, right? They're going to
12:52know that that I want to be here not out
12:54here. I don't want to be broken out. I
12:55don't I want my grips. I want my I want
12:57my knees pinched. I want my hips in. I
12:59want my grips and elbows nice tucked in.
13:01This is where I'm strong. I'm weak here.
13:03I'm weak there. You know what I mean? So
13:05they're they're the battles. They're the
13:07battles that need to be won and I
13:08believe Rufian is looking great with
13:11him.
13:11>> I think I saw Arman say, I think it was
13:13on Ariel Helwani that he hadn't even
13:15seen Rufian's last two or three fights
13:17or something like that.
13:18>> Yeah. Uh he I guarantee he has now.
13:20But I mean, the thing is well, you
13:21haven't really got to see much.
13:23>> Yeah.
13:23>> You know, a lot of them are going to go
13:24back to the BSD fight and be like, all
13:26right, I'm going to get a lock and go
13:27here." It ain't that easy. And I will
13:29tell you that right now. Like uh here's
13:31he did have certain defenses that he was
13:33still quite good at, but with an Arman,
13:36with a strong guy like BSD, they could
13:38capitalize on that. Not no more. Now,
13:40you can still get a takedown, but not
13:42through that direct direction, if that
13:44makes sense. I'll go second round TKO
13:47from Rufiy. And I'm I'm sort of hoping
13:50it's the
13:51second round cuz I want him to build
13:53more and more confidence to the
13:54grappling. And just knowing that, "Oh,
13:56all this stuff's working in the gym, but
13:59is it going to work in the fight?"
14:00Against an Arman, you go there and have
14:01success against Arman, it's going to be
14:03a whole 'nother beast with that
14:04confidence on top of his already already
14:07game he has,
14:08big big big big big problems for the
14:10lightweight division. And and credit to
14:12him to take on the toughest fight in the
14:15UFC for him is Arman, and he's taking it
14:18on short notice. Does he have to take
14:20these opportunities? No, not everyone
14:21has to. But the fact that he wants to,
14:24that he wants to put himself in a
14:25position where he fights for the title
14:27next. Me seeing that is I remember him
14:29saying when I was training with him in
14:30Thailand, he's like going, "I'd love
14:32the" and he mentioned the game these
14:34names and Arman was one of them. Purely
14:36because these names were the guys that
14:38are going to get him to the title shot
14:39quicker. I believe uh Rufiy is going to
14:41pass this challenge with flying colors.
14:43Our camp has been perfect, right? I've
14:44had Movsar, he's had uh
14:46he's had Arman. We've been able to just
14:48go over a lot of takedown defense. So,
14:49he's got not only me going over it, he's
14:52seeing me do these endless rounds of bad
14:55positions. And you know, just getting to
14:58see that and be like, "You know what?
14:59This is how the this is a championship
15:01mindset. This is what I need. I need
15:03that work ethic. I need that mindset
15:05around this. I need to put myself in bad
15:06positions. I need to keep putting myself
15:09in bad positions come fight time,
15:12if he gets me there, I've been here.
15:14I've been here while with fresh guys
15:15every minute and I'm you know, I'm doing
15:17all the rounds. I've been you know, 25
15:19minutes of it.
15:20You You what's one minute going to do to
15:22me? No way. That ain't going to happen.
15:23I'm going to be ready for any bad
15:25position that comes my way. So, that's a
15:28It's going to be a good one. Looking
15:29forward to it.