Written by Photo via Lee Alves
The Fighting Nerds are expanding their domain after a spectacular year in 2024, and will now have its first location in the United States.
Mauricio Ruffy, who takes on King Green at Saturday’s UFC 313 in Las Vegas, revealed to MMA Fighting he’s opening a branch of the team in New Hampshire alongside his business partner Yann Oliveira, striking coach Lee Alves, and Fighting Nerds founder Pablo Sucupira.
The exact location and opening date are still to be revealed, but Ruffy is excited to have a new home for his teammates in the U.S. as they branch out from their sole location in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
“It’s going to be great to have a better space for the Fighting Nerds here in the United States,” Ruffy said. “We’ll have a place to train, with accommodation for everybody. We’ll also welcome other athletes, create openings for athletes to train there as well. There’s a lot of people interested in coming in, and I’m thrilled.”
Yann Oliveira is 7-0 as a professional MMA fighter and a two-division Combat FC champion, having claimed the welterweight and middleweight belts in 2024. Lee Alves trained Alex Pereira in his final run as GLORY champion and UFC career, coaching him to UFC titles in two weight classes, and he now coaches Ruffy.
Ruffy plans on continuing to train in Sao Paulo, but also to use the New Hampshire location to finish camps ahead of UFC fights in the U.S. The same goes for teammates Caio Borralho, Jean Silva, Carlos Prates and Bruna Brasil.
“I’m always here [in the United States], and fighters are always traveling,” Ruffy said. “For example, if I have a fight booked and I’m coming to the United States, I’ll train here for a couple of months, or vice versa. It’s going to make things easier for us. Caio, Jean, everybody is excited about it. The work will continue the same. We’ll have Lee there 100 percent of the time, Pablo will always be around as well. This is a dream come true.”
Ruffy is 2-0 under the UFC banner with wins over Jamie Mullarkey and James Llontop and aims to keep the momentum going Saturday when he faces 26-time octagon veteran Green. At 38, Green enters the cage off a loss to Paddy Pimblett.