Mauricio Ruffy delivered a statement victory on the UFC White House card, stopping Michael Chandler late in the opening round.
Ruffy repeatedly hurt Chandler with a varied striking attack, landing spinning heel kicks, body shots, and uppercuts before the bout was halted at 4:29 of the first round. The win gives Ruffy back-to-back knockouts over Michael Chandler and Rafael Fiziev.
“Amazing. I’m so happy,” Ruffy said after the fight. “I’m very happy with this performance, very happy with this win. Thank for the UFC. Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you for [Alexander Volkanovski] for training with me.”
Ruffy, who competes in the UFC lightweight division and trains with Alexander Volkanovski, made his ambitions clear moving forward. “I want to be the champion at this division. I do believe I am next up for the title shot.”
Chandler, a former Bellator champion and former UFC lightweight title challenger, now holds a 2-6 record in the UFC and has dropped four straight bouts.
