Mauricio Ruffy is coming off of a win at one of the biggest shows of the year and he’s already offering his services for the UFC 329 main event between Conor McGregor and Max Holloway.
The top lightweight contender dominated Michael Chandler at UFC White House, needing less than a round to put away the former Bellator star. On Sunday, Ruffy posted a video to his Instagram announcing he is available to be a backup for this Saturday’s headlining bout, which features McGregor and Holloway competing at 170 pounds.
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See Ruffy’s video below.
“I made myself available for the Conor McGregor fight and Max Holloway,” Ruffy said (Portuguese-to-English translation via Ruffy). “I’m going on a trip to Las Vegas.
“I took good care of myself. These guys made me train halfway through my vacation. This fight will take place in the [170-pound] division, so let’s see here how much weight I kept. I have to tell you, that was the time I gained the most weight.”
Ruffy stepped to the scale at 84.2 kg (approximately 185.6 pounds), meaning he needs to lose around 14 pounds to make the non-title welterweight limit. The 30-year-old Brazilian standout weighed in at 155 pounds on the dot for his bout with Chandler. He has previously fought higher than the lightweight limit prior to joining the UFC in 2023, and signed on for one 165-pound catchweight bout in the octagon when he fought short-notice replacement James Llontop.
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Should Ruffy officially get the call, he’s excited about the possibility of fighting McGregor—a fighter to whom Ruffy has frequently drawn stylistic comparisons—or Holloway.
“Me against Conor McGregor, I believe it would be a very good fight,” Ruffy said. “I think a fight I would have made easier by the fact of rhythm and everything else, right? Always having the dangers of the fight.
“But I believe it would be a really cool fight against Max Holloway and I believe in my knockout power. He’s a guy who doesn’t seek to play forward there all the time, but I go there to define the fights and I don’t miss my chances. It would be really cool to see this fight happen. I’m going, let’s see what happens.”
Ruffy (14-2) is 5-1 in the UFC, with four wins by knockout. Three of those finishes earned Ruffy a Performance of the Night bonus, including his unbelievable spinning wheel kick against Bobby Green that won MMA Fighting’s 2025 Knockout of the Year award.
