Silva Backs Ruffy Despite Rift After UFC 331 KO

Jean Silva urged fans to support Mauricio Ruffy after his knockout loss at UFC 331, despite the former teammates no longer being close.

Ruffy dropped to 14-3 when Arman Tsarukyan knocked him out with a late first-round elbow during their lightweight bout in Los Angeles on Sept. 19. Silva, who trains separately from Ruffy now, was caught on camera looking dejected as the finish happened, per Sherdog.

Silva, who suffered a similar knockout loss to Diego Lopes last year, said he knows how difficult the recovery will be. "As I said in the video, I hope that the people around give support to Ruffy, I've been in that same situation and it's a very dark road to be on," Silva wrote on X, according to Sherdog. "Even having our problems, Ruffy is an excellent athlete."

The two featherweights trained together at Fighting Nerds under Pablo Sucupira before Ruffy moved to Australia to work with Alexander Volkanovski. Silva has since rebounded from his own knockout with wins over Arnold Allen and Jose Delgado.

Tsarukyan, now 24-3, strengthened his case for a lightweight title shot with the finish. Ruffy had hurt him early with a right hand before the Armenian wrestler took over and landed the fight-ending elbow from the clinch.