Alexander Volkanovski made a 24,000-kilometer round trip from New South Wales to Los Angeles to corner Mauricio Ruffy in the biggest fight of his career. The gamble ended in heartbreak — and cameras caught every second of Volk's reaction.
“And Volk, he's different for this fight.”
Volkanovski broke off preparations for his own featherweight title defense against Movsar Evloev at UFC 333 in October in Abu Dhabi to stand cageside for Ruffy's five-round co-main with Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 331. It was the second time the pairing happened: Volk had already been in Ruffy's corner when he knocked out Michael Chandler on the White House lawn earlier this year, and Ruffy had left the Fighting Nerds gym to train at Volkanovski's Windang gym, drilling takedown defense with Volk and head coach Joe Lopez for Tsarukyan — "probably one of the best wrestlers in the UFC."
Ruffy spoke glowingly about the camp before fight night. "This is my second time in a Volk camp, and it was crazy the intensity he's trained at for this fight — and every single day," he told Fox Sports Australia, adding that both Volkanovski and former lightweight contender Brad Riddell would be in his corner.
Then the fight lasted one round. Tsarukyan stopped Ruffy with back-to-back elbows at 4:56 of the opener, and footage of Volkanovski's stunned reaction from the corner spread across social media within hours of Saturday's card. The takedown defense had actually looked improved early, but once Tsarukyan trapped Ruffy in the clinch, there was no escape.
The fallout matters for both men. Ruffy's second UFC loss hurts his title aspirations at lightweight. And Volkanovski now turns back to his own camp — with the division's belt on the line against the unbeaten Evloev in Abu Dhabi next month, he can hardly afford a lingering hangover from Los Angeles.
