Israel Adesanya predicts upset finish in UFC 331 clash between Arman Tsarukyan and Mauricio Ruffy

Israel Adesanya is backing the underdog in the UFC 331 co-main event.

The UFC 331 co-main event came out of left field when it was originally announced by Dana White.

Initially, the plan was for Arman Tsarukyan to take on Charles Oliveira, but plans changed just 24 hours before the announcement and Mauricio Ruffy stepped in.

And heading into potentially his final fight before fighting for the title, the Armenian is being heavily backed, but former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is going against the grain.

Ever since the co-main event was announced, fans have been highlighting Ruffy’s questionable wrestling defense as a potentially defining factor in this fight.

Despite that, the Brazilian attempted to address those worries, claiming that he has been working on that area of his game.

And after spending a bit of time with him during his training camp with Alexander Volkanovski, the former middleweight champion, Adesanya, is predicting an upset win for Ruffy.

“I mean he’s the number one contender in my eyes now,” Adesanya said about Tsarukyan in a breakdown of the fight on his YouTube.

“Ruffy will have the better footwork, by far… I think Ruffy has to be wary about the timing of Tsarukyan’s takedowns… Keep away from the fence, don’t stay on the fence at all because if he stays on the fence it’s a bad night for him.

“In this fight, I think Ruffy will be where he was against (Rafael) Fiziev, which was on the back foot, Arman will be putting on the pressure just trying to force him to the cage and go for a takedown.

“Ruffy’s footwork must be elite in this fight because you can get stuck on the cage with Arman and once he gets to a leg or he gets his arms on your waist and he can just drop down. Ruffy, he knows what to do, I think he can catch Arman.

“I think if Ruffy maintains his footwork and distance and stays off the fence line, he’ll be popping Arman and he’ll catch him… Ruffy’s gonna snipe him, I’m going Ruffy third round finish,” he continued.

If the 30-year-old does pull off the upset against the 30-year-old, it would be very unfortunate for him to miss out on a title shot.

Having said that, Ilia Topuria recently announced his return is imminent, and he has targeted Justin Gaethje in a rematch callout.

If that does come to fruition, the winner of the UFC 331 co-main event may have to sit on the sidelines for a few months before their next fight.