2 hours Ago By Damon Martin
Mauricio Ruffy probably would have added another knockout to his record at UFC 309 if he wasn’t facing an incredibly durable opponent in James Llontop . Through the first two rounds, Ruffy blasted Llontop with the kinds of punches that would have floored most fighters but somehow the action always continued. Again and again, Ruffy punished Llontop with well-timed, powerful shots but the Peruvian fighter just kept coming back for more.
Ruffy ultimately had to settle for a decision win with all three judges scoring the fight 29-28 in his favor. “No frustration here,” Ruffy said when addressing his struggles to find opponents. “It’s part of the process.
They’ve given me the opportunity to be at Madison Square Garden. I’m just enjoying it. There was a lot of nervous energy coming from Llontop while Ruffy was just sitting back and waiting for the opportunity to unleash his best strikes.
Llontop stayed in the pocket and kept tossing out his punches and kicks to keep Ruffy honest before uncorking a nasty right hook that tagged the Brazilian. Ruffy fired back with a pair of calf kicks that landed with a sickening thud and Llontop immediately started to favor that lead leg. With Llontop still moving forward, Ruffy uncorked a huge right hand that slammed home on his opponent’s chin.
Despite the staggering punch connecting clean, Llontop refused to go down and he kept trading shots with Ruffy until the opening round came to a close. On the restart, Ruffy snapped off a nasty uppercut that caught Llontop off guard and sent him crashing to the canvas. Ruffy attempted to get the finish on the ground as he was throwing a barrage of punches but Llontop would not go away.
The assault continued with Ruffy cracking Llontop with another devastating right that almost immediately opened a cut over his eye. By the end of the second round, Llontop’s left eye was also a mess with a huge mouse forming underneath. Still, Llontop stayed on the attack, moving forward and chopping away at Ruffy, who was suddenly starting to slow down rather dramatically with time ticking away to the final horn.
Llontop’s constant pressure was relentless, although he did eat another nasty left hand from Ruffy just before the fight came to a close. With the win, Ruffy moves to 2-0 in his UFC career but he definitely had to endure some difficult moments against a game opponent in Llontop. Afterwards, he took the opportunity to call out another highly touted prospect from the lightweight division.
“[Benoit] Saint Denis, what do you think?” Ruffy shouted. “Let’s go fight.”.
