Ruffy volunteers as UFC 329 backup after demolishing Chandler, eyes McGregor or Holloway

Mauricio Ruffy is wasting no time after his dominant first-round finish of Michael Chandler at UFC White House, announcing via Instagram on Sunday that he has made himself available as a backup for the UFC 329 main event between Conor McGregor and Max Holloway this Saturday in Las Vegas.

The McGregor–Holloway bout is scheduled at 170 pounds, and Ruffy — a natural lightweight who weighed in at exactly 155 pounds for Chandler — stepped on the scale in his video to show 84.2 kg (approximately 185.6 pounds), meaning he would need to shed around 14 pounds to make the non-title welterweight limit. The 30-year-old Brazilian has competed above the lightweight limit before, including a 165-pound catchweight bout against James Llontop inside the octagon.

“I made myself available for the Conor McGregor fight and Max Holloway,” Ruffy said in the video, translated from Portuguese. “I’m going on a trip to Las Vegas. I took good care of myself. These guys made me train halfway through my vacation.”

Ruffy expressed confidence about either potential matchup. He has frequently drawn stylistic comparisons to McGregor, and acknowledged the intrigue of that pairing. “Me against Conor McGregor, I believe it would be a very good fight,” he said. “I think a fight I would have made easier by the fact of rhythm and everything else.”

He was equally bullish about facing Holloway. “I believe in my knockout power. He’s a guy who doesn’t seek to play forward there all the time, but I go there to define the fights and I don’t miss my chances. It would be really cool to see this fight happen.”

Ruffy stands at 14-2 overall and 5-1 inside the UFC, with four of those wins coming by knockout. Three of his finishes earned him a Performance of the Night bonus, including a spinning wheel kick against Bobby Green that was named MMA Fighting’s 2025 Knockout of the Year. His latest outing against Chandler only added to a growing reputation as one of the most dangerous finishers in the lightweight division.