Fighting Nerds star Mauricio Ruffy downplays Russians compared to Brazilians in UFC

Mauricio Ruffy is one of the highlights of the Fighiting Nerds team. cute: Instagram Ruffy

Mauricio Ruffy is not impressed with the Russians' success within the UFC. The Fighting Nerds prodigy, who starred in one of the biggest knockouts of 2025, compared the history of the Europeans with that of the Brazilians and reached his verdict: 'We have more champions.'

In a video published on UFC Brazil's YouTube channel, Ruffy expressed respect for Russian fighters, recognizing their efforts to reach the top. However, he does not consider them to be the greatest nation in the UFC. For Fighting Nerds, Brazil does have that status, due to the much greater number of Brazilian champions compared to the Russians.

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“We have to respect their history a lot, the guys worked hard to get there, but I don’t believe they are the ‘UFC bogeymen’. The Brazilians, yes, are. If you stop to count, how many Russian champions are there? They fit on one hand. And how many Brazilians? They don’t fit on both hands. So, like, the Brazilians dominate the sport. Maybe they are in a good moment now, but we have a lot of champions. So, man, I believe that, in this sport, the ones who showed the most and delivered the most were the Brazilians”, pointed out Ruffy.

Mauricio Ruffy, signed through the Contender Series, debuted in the UFC in March 2024. After a year in the organization, he has three wins, two by knockout.