Mauricio Ruffy and Alex Pereira are both preparing for UFC Freedom 250, the special White House card on June 14.
Ruffy is scheduled to face Michael Chandler at lightweight, while Pereira is set to fight Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight title.
That shared card helps explain why the two Brazilians were seen training together, even with a major size gap between them.
Lightweight contender Mauricio Ruffy is not afraid to spar Alex Pereira
Footage shared by Pereira’s coach, Plinio Cruz, showed Ruffy doing light sparring rounds with ‘Poatan’ during training.
That stood out because Ilia Topuria, the UFC lightweight champion, had recently made clear there was “no way” he would spar Pereira, despite previously sharing gym space with him.
Topuria’s stance was understandable. Pereira is now preparing as a heavyweight and is listed at six-foot-four, making him far bigger than most lighter fighters.
Still, Ruffy accepted the challenge. He is listed at five-foot-eleven, giving him more height than Topuria, who is five-foot-seven.
That difference matters when training with ‘Poatan’. Ruffy still gives away size, but the gap is less extreme than it would be for Topuria.
Beyond that, the footage appeared to show technical work rather than a hard spar, but it still underlined Ruffy’s confidence before his Chandler fight.
For Pereira, the rounds also offer movement and speed from a lighter striker before facing Gane.
It was only training, but the clip added an interesting subplot to UFC Freedom 250. Topuria said ‘no way’, while Ruffy was filmed doing exactly that.
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