Mauricio Ruffy opens up about his preparation with Volkanovski for UFC 325: 'He taught me a lot'

Ruffy backstage at the UFC. Photo: Reproduction/Facebook/UFC

Mauricio Ruffy He wants to recover from his last fight, when he lost to Benoit St. Dennis at UFC Fight Night 258, in September 2025. The Brazilian will fight at event number 325, this Saturday (31), in Sydney, Australia, and shared a little of the experience of preparing for the duel against Raphael Fiziev in the same space Alexander Volkanovsky, current featherweight champion (up to 65,7 kg).

In an interview with the UFC channel, Ruffy, which will not include the Fighting Nerds team for this challenge.He made it clear that he believes training alongside the featherweight champion has enhanced his development for his fight against him. Raphael FizievThe Brazilian said he learned a lot during his training camp and feels good about having Volkanovski by his side for this duel.

"Everything is going very well. Learning a lot from my last fight, learning new things, and happy to be here again. I've been here for a month now, training with Volk (Alexander VolkanovskyBut before that, we were training in Thailand, so we were already training together. He taught me a lot, and I'm trying to help him too. I did most of my training camp here with the Australian crew.

I believe the biggest difference for this fight is that I have Volk on my side. There were many training sessions where he wasn't there to train, he was just there to help me. I learned a lot from him about how to become a champion, how to be a champion as a person too, so for me, having him on my side is the big difference.

My focus has always been the UFC belt, I want to be a champion, so all my training is geared towards that goal. Even in my last defeat, I learned from it. I became a better athlete, I have my family, my wife, two children at home, so everything I do in training is for them. I'm just training to become a better athlete and become a champion. I thank God very much for the opportunity, I thank Rafael as well. Very happy to be fighting with the best fighters now,” he said. Mauricio Ruffy in the interview.

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Watch Mauricio Ruffy's full response.

“The biggest difference for me is to have Volk by my side.”

Mauricio Ruffy (@RuffyMMA) believes training alongside the featherweight champion has elevated his development heading into his #UFC325 fight with Raphael Fiziev.

Fight By Fight Preview ➡️: https://t.co/OfZwLEgq1K pic.twitter.com/9PcyTgBgJ8

- UFC News (@UFCNews) January 28, 2026