MMA fans are known to be pretty fair weather. hopping on and off bandwagons faster than your mother hops on and off dicks. All it takes is a hyped prospect to get taken down, look a little useless then we all call him a fraud and hate his guts till his next win. thats the path we are on with Ruffy. He was a very hyped prospect with highlight reel wins. The Fighting Nerds told us that he was the most talented guy on the team and we believed it. Then he got taken down a few times and genuinely looked useless. Ruffy will be the flashier striker here and I do think his range and movement will be frustrating for Fiziev, but I also think it won't matter because Fiziev is not only a high level striker of his own, but also a very good wrestler when he needs to be. Fiziev is also tough as shit. For Ruffy to win he needs to stay on the outside and manage range. I just don't think he will be able to do that. Fiziev has no issues getting into a phone booth and i think thats what he does here before mixing in takedowns. Fiziev is the pick and this could be a sneaky good fight.
Rafael Fiziev
Rafael Fiziev is a phenomenal striker with a traditional Muay Thai style. He has incredible power and volume. He mixes his punches and kicks up well which is expected from such a high level striker and coach. Even though he is one of the most technical strikers in the division, he will absolutely get sucked into fire fights and abandon those techniques to chase a KO. He is coming off the wrestle heavy win over Ignacio Bahamondes where he had 4 takedowns.
Mauricio Ruffy
Mauricio Ruffy is a nasty striker with big fight ending power. He has 12 wins with 11 stoppages. He will throw heavy 1-2s and look for power. He isn't just a traditional striker though, he will launch kicks up the middle, he will throw spinning techniques, he will even attempt scissor takedowns. We have seen him carry power to the 3rd round which is nice because Fiziev is durable. We have also seen him completely frozen by takedown attempts and then useless on the ground.
