Outside Source
Ruffy is one of four main athletes to proudly represent the Fighting Nerds camp in the promotion. There are others less discussed like Bruna Brasil and recent convert Michal Oleksiejczuk, but he remains one of the primary stable that include him, Carlos Prates, Caio Borralho and Jean Silva. Together, those combatants amassed a streak of 22 wins opposite zero defeats in their first two years with the organization, leading the team to taking home the 2024 World MMA Award for “Gym of the Year.”
As of late, those four combatants have struggled. Each of those four tasted defeats this year, first with Prates dropping a decision to Ian Garry in April. On Sept. 6, both Borralho and Ruffy fell short against Nassourdine Imavov and Benoit St. Denis, respectively. A week later, Silva succumbed to the strikes from Diego Lopes. When all four lost in the span of a few months, questions start to raise about the camp’s staying power. How will those losses impact those young Brazilian talents? Sherdog spoke to Fighting Nerds head Pablo Sucupira on Thursday ahead of UFC Rio, where he suggested the setbacks actually provided extra motivation for his athletes.
“As I told the team, we have the chance to begin a second chapter in the Fighting Nerd story,” Sucupira explained. “The fairy tale is over; the documentary will begin. Now that we’ve exposed our weaknesses, I think people will begin to identify even more with our human side.”
The coach was not downtrodden in the face of defeat, instead showing optimism about the team’s next steps.
“When an athlete is coming off five or six wins, it’s hard to go up to them and say, ‘Change this, it’s not working,’” the Fighting Nerds chief said. “Now we have a great opportunity to improve, not just the athletes, but also myself as a coach. And I’m very confident that not only the top four will be able to do so, because Fighting Nerds is a team of 60 athletes, 12 of whom are in the UFC. I truly believe that soon we’ll have golden glasses in the UFC.”
A Fighting Nerd in the Big City
The burgeoning coach known as “The Alchemist” acknowledged that of the four main losses for his team, Ruffy’s was the most painful, but he made a point of not making excuses for his defeat in France.
“What fight doesn’t have a lot of problems,” Sucupira asked. “And that’s what athletes do: take those problems and turn them into victories. And I don’t know if ‘BSD’ didn’t have problems either. I prefer to focus on what was good and improve on that.”
Some fighters react to major losses poorly, but Sucupira does not believe Ruffy will fall victim to that trap of negative thinking.
“Of the four Fighting Nerds, Ruffy had the fewest UFC fights, but he’s perhaps the most talented. That’s why there were such high expectations and pressure on him. Everyone wanted beautiful knockouts, things never seen before. I think after this loss, he’ll have the chance to make his own way, in his own time. He’s a very introspective martial artist, in the sense that he searches deeply for answers within himself. Sometimes we have to wait for his time. What I can say is that I saw Ruffy with an energy, a strength and a desire to test himself that I hadn’t seen in a long time,” the coach stated.
In fact, Ruffy is so amped up to get back in the cage and put the loss behind him, he has taken it upon himself to broaden his horizons.
“He came to me and said, ‘Pablito, I need to test myself, get out there, spar,’” Sucupira noted. “I admired that about him. I believe in him more and more, not only as an athlete, but as a person. And I’m convinced we’ll hear a lot more from Ruffy, not only as a fighter, but as a great role model. This trip to Australia was a more personal one for him, promoted by a sponsor in partnership with City Kickboxing. In fact, he was a guest fighter at this UFC event in Australia. I think all the testing experiences are great. So, you’ll see Ruffy at other gyms around the world, and even in Brazil, and I fully support that.”
Regarding his athlete’s return, Sucupira preferred not to set a date but believes it will be in early 2026.
“I still need to have this conversation with him to understand how we’ll carry out this work, but I believe he should be back between January and February,” “Pablito” concluded.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
Help support MMACrazies.com when you shop Amazon by starting your online Amazon shopping at MMACrazies.com/recommends/amazon. You are not charged extra, but we receive a small and very helpful commission on everything you purchase. Thanks for thinking of us every time you shop at Amazon.
