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Mauricio Ruffy’s new coach Joe Lopez is feeling confident in his student’s chances against Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 331.

At UFC 331, in the co-main event of the evening, Mauricio Ruffy faces arguably his biggest test to date in mixed martial arts. He will square off against Arman Tsarukyan, who is generally viewed as the clear number one contender for the UFC lightweight championship.

RELATED: Mauricio Ruffy solely focused on KO against Arman Tsarukyan amid surprising UFC 331 booking: “I don’t feel pressure at all”

If Arman wins, he will almost certainly get the call to face Justin Gaethje for the belt in his next fight. On the flip side, Ruffy could really put himself in the conversation if he can pull off what would probably be seen as a notable upset.

In a recent interview, Ruffy’s coach Joe Lopez had the following to say about the Tsarukyan clash.

Lopez’s view on Ruffy vs Tsarukyan

“Well, it’s just chalk and cheese,” Lopez told Submission Radio. “You can just see how he’s improving, you know? For this fight here, that’s one of our specialties is our defensive wrestling and our scrambles and not accepting the position. Honestly, he’s picking it up. When he first came, he was still really stuck in his jiu-jitsu type thing where he attached himself to the person, where now, he’s not.

“He’s training his escapes, getting out, putting his body in the right position, putting his hands in the right position. Having Frank (Hickman), Alex (Volkanovski), and Brad Riddell there constantly trying to take him down and him getting back up, I can just see how hard it is for those boys now to hold him down.”

“Arman’s in for a fight,” Lopez said. “It’s not going to be he’s going to hold Ruffy down for five rounds and make it ugly. I can’t see that happening. You can never say never, but just watching Ruffy and how he’s moving, and he’s so athletic as well. He’s such a strong, athletic guy, and he wants to learn and he picks things up so quick.”

Quotes via MMA Junkie

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