Estranged teammate Jean Silva urges fans to back Ruffy after Tsarukyan KO at UFC 331

Jean Silva has set aside his personal rift with Mauricio Ruffy to publicly back the Brazilian lightweight after Arman Tsarukyan stopped him with a vicious elbow in the first round of their UFC 331 bout on September 19 in Los Angeles. Tsarukyan, now 24-3, finished Ruffy late in the opening frame while breaking from a clinch, sending the 14-3 prospect to his second professional defeat by knockout.

Ruffy had shown early promise, hurting Tsarukyan with a right hand in the opening exchanges, but “The Batman” weathered the shot and began mixing in his wrestling before landing the decisive blow.

Silva, a UFC featherweight who trains out of the Fighting Nerds gym in Brazil, was visibly shaken watching his former teammate fall, as captured in a clip circulated online. Despite publicly announcing their split, Silva took to X to urge compassion for Ruffy in the aftermath.

“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. “Even having our problems, Ruffy is an excellent athlete.”

Silva speaks from direct experience. He suffered a high-profile knockout loss to Diego Lopes in 2024 before bouncing back with consecutive wins over Arnold Allen and Jose Delgado — a recovery arc he clearly believes Ruffy is capable of replicating.

The two Brazilians came up together under coach Pablo Sucupira at Fighting Nerds, with Silva crediting Ruffy at one point for helping him harness his aggression inside the cage. Their relationship fractured after Ruffy departed the gym to train under featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski in Australia. Silva made the split public, though the rest of the Fighting Nerds camp is said to hold no ill will toward Ruffy.

The gesture from Silva underlines how brutal a high-profile knockout can be beyond the physical damage — and that even fractured relationships in combat sports can carry a thread of solidarity when one fighter hits the canvas.