​Alexander
Volkanovski was visibly distraught after teammate Mauricio
Ruffy suffered a knockout loss.
Ruffy was stopped by Arman
Tsarukyan with back-to-back elbows at 4:56 of the opening round
in their pivotal
Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight clash. Volkanovski
was in Ruffy’s corner at UFC
331 and his reaction to the finish has gone viral.Alexander Volkanovski was in Mauricio Ruffy’s corner when Arman
Tsarukyan landed the fight-ending elbows at UFC 331
Ruffy switched gyms after losing to Benoit St.
Denis last year, leaving the Brazilian gym
Fighting Nerds to train under Volkanovski in Australia. Cameras
captured the featherweight champ’s reaction from Ruffy’s corner as
Tsarukyan delivered the fight-ending elbows. Volkanovski and former
UFC lightweight Brad
Riddell were clearly stunned by the outcome.
Ruffy’s takedown defense looked solid in the first round against
Tsarukyan, pointing to obvious improvements in his defensive
wrestling since changing gyms.
This marked Ruffy’s second defeat in the UFC, hurting his
championship aspirations. Meanwhile, Volkanovski will look to
retain the featherweight title when he takes on the unbeaten
Movsar
Evloev at
UFC 333 in October in Abu Dhabi.💔 Volk was heartbroken to see
Ruffy lose via KO pic.twitter.com/yd1qDfXhFR— Home of
Fight (@Home_of_Fight)
September 20, 2026