“First, I want to thank God for my life and my health,” Ruffy said in Portuguese. “I am in perfect health. I feel 100 percent. I also want to thank all of you for the love and support. I received so many amazing messages. I haven’t read all of them yet because there were so many, but I truly felt supported and embraced by all of you.”
“I received the call a little more than six weeks out — exactly six weeks and four days — and I dedicated everything I had to this training camp. I know it may seem like a short amount of time, but I felt ready to fight anyone. I was doing great and felt confident. I stayed away from my family and pushed through several difficult situations. There were days when my body couldn’t take any more, but I kept going.”
“I entered the fight so confident that I wanted to experience everything. I didn’t want a quick first-round knockout. I wanted to overcome some of the things inside my head and prove to myself that I was ready. I wanted to defend his takedowns and leave there as a better fighter. I wanted to go through those difficult situations and prove to myself how prepared I was.”
“After the flash knockdown, I felt his strength beginning to fade and believed the fight was under my control. I hit him with an elbow to the ribs while he was defending a reversal, and I saw how much it hurt him. His eye was closing, I was landing punches, and I was certain I would finish the fight in the second round.”
“It is important to say that the mistake was completely mine. It was my fault and my carelessness, but it was also his merit. Arman is an excellent fighter.”
“When my corner yelled that there were ten seconds remaining and he shot for my legs, I thought that was the best possible thing for me. I thought, ‘He’s going to spend more energy here, the second round will begin, and then I’ll knock him out.’”
“There were four seconds left. I could have thrown strikes or moved away from the fence, but I didn’t want to. I wanted to use that moment against him, and it was a good idea. I simply got careless. I relaxed defensively, which is something I normally don’t do, and I paid the price.”
“So I want to apologize to my fans for the sadness of the loss. I know it’s not easy to root for someone through a defeat, but guys, I’m learning. You’ve seen the evolution of each fight, and this fight was going very well. But I’m happy for everything that happened. It’s difficult to deal with loss and all that, but it makes us grow.”
