{"id":6607,"date":"2026-02-01T22:58:28","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T21:58:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/?p=6607"},"modified":"2026-02-02T19:06:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T18:06:40","slug":"mauricio-ruffy-sends-a-statement-at-ufc-325-stops-fiziev-and-rewrites-his-path","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/mauricio-ruffy-sends-a-statement-at-ufc-325-stops-fiziev-and-rewrites-his-path\/","title":{"rendered":"Mauricio Ruffy Sends a Statement at UFC 325, Stops Fiziev and Rewrites His Path"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"2311\" data-end=\"2552\">Mauricio Ruffy delivered one of the most striking performances of UFC 325, stopping Rafael Fiziev via TKO in a wild, high-level striking battle. More than just a win, this fight marked a defining moment in the Brazilian\u2019s lightweight career.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"2554\" data-end=\"2810\">Ranked No.14 heading into the bout, Ruffy stepped into the Octagon under heavy scrutiny. His previous loss to Beno\u00eet Saint Denis at UFC Paris had raised questions about his ceiling. Against a proven elite striker like Fiziev, this was a must-answer moment.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"2812\" data-end=\"2846\"><strong data-start=\"2816\" data-end=\"2846\">Round 1: Fiziev in control<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"2847\" data-end=\"3094\">Fiziev started strong, applying relentless pressure and controlling the range. His calf kicks quickly began to damage Ruffy\u2019s lead leg, forcing the Brazilian backward and limiting his movement. Early on, the Azerbaijani appeared firmly in command.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"3096\" data-end=\"3130\"><strong data-start=\"3100\" data-end=\"3130\">Round 2: the turning point<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"3131\" data-end=\"3359\">But sustained pressure comes at a cost. Ruffy adjusted, found his rhythm with sharp boxing, and began landing clean shots. The exchanges intensified. Then came the shift: a sudden burst, a clean connection, and Fiziev staggered.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"3361\" data-end=\"3524\">Sensing blood, Ruffy pressed forward. Fiziev fell, and the Brazilian followed him to the ground, unleashing decisive ground-and-pound. The referee stepped in. TKO.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"fr\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\udd25 Il est de retour !<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Ruffymma?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Ruffymma<\/a> s&#39;impose par TKO au deuxi\u00e8me round<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udcfa Regardez l\u2019<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/UFC325?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#UFC325<\/a>  EN DIRECT sur \ud83c\uddeb\ud83c\uddf7 RMC Sport et sur \ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddea VOOSport World <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/MuV8i6HhPI\">pic.twitter.com\/MuV8i6HhPI<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; UFC France (@UFCFRA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UFCFRA\/status\/2017803117354430659?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 1, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"3526\" data-end=\"3554\"><strong data-start=\"3530\" data-end=\"3554\">More than a comeback<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"3555\" data-end=\"3751\">Now 13-2, Ruffy\u2019s victory goes far beyond numbers. Stopping a fighter like Fiziev is a clear declaration of intent. It shows resilience, growth, and readiness for the highest level of competition.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-start=\"3753\" data-end=\"3939\">A spot in the <strong data-start=\"3767\" data-end=\"3789\">lightweight Top 10<\/strong> now appears inevitable. At UFC 325, Mauricio Ruffy didn\u2019t just bounce back \u2014 he reshaped his standing in one of the UFC\u2019s most competitive divisions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mauricio Ruffy delivered one of the most striking performances of UFC 325, stopping Rafael Fiziev via TKO in a wild, high-level striking battle. More than just a win, this fight marked a defining moment in the Brazilian\u2019s lightweight career. Ranked No.14 heading into the bout, Ruffy stepped into the Octagon under heavy scrutiny. His previous [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6608,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,86,21,91],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-6607","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"category-mma-video","9":"category-ufc-news","10":"category-ufc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6607"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6607"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6615,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6607\/revisions\/6615"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}