Mauricio Ruffy recently heaped praise on soccer superstar Neymar and credited him for his viral knockout win over King Green at UFC 313 last Saturday. He highlighted feints that the soccer superstar does during games and stated that he applied the same to his fight.
Ruffy knocked Green out in spectacular fashion as he dropped him with a perfectly timed spinning wheel kick to earn a first round knockout in only 2:07. The knockout went viral on social media and also earned the Brazilian a $50,000 post-fight bonus for Performance of the Night.
During his latest appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, Ruffy shared that he isn't a big soccer fan, but has watched Neymar extensively and adopted certain strategies. He mentioned that he used the soccer superstar's feinting strategies to confuse Green and eventually set up his spinning wheel kick knockout:
"I like to watch Neymar a lot because I think he's a very skillful player... What I see Neymar does a lot is to do a dribble over a dribble, he does like, a double move compound... So basically, you could see I kinda threaten with the cross, I go with the overhand and then just go with the kick. So that's what it is, a feint over feint. I have to thank Neymar, that's why I call it the Neymar feint."
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Check out Mauricio Ruffy's comments below:
Mauricio Ruffy says he prefers his spinning wheel kick knockout over Edson Barbosa's famous win
Mauricio Ruffy's viral spinning wheel kick knockout win over King Green drew many comparisons to Edson Barboza's famous win over Terry Etim, which has been a fixture in his UFC highlight packs.
During the aforementioned appearance, Ruffy mentioned that he holds both knockouts in high regard, but understandably favored his own win:
"Both of them were beautiful, both deserve praise, both deserve the ovation. But, I think that if you look at Edson's... Mine, you have the feint there, there was the added bonus of the feint. I like to say that Neymar helped me out with that one. That was the Neymar feint."
Check out Mauricio Ruffy's team reacting to his spinning wheel kick knockout over King Green below: