Robert Ruchala’s patience paid off.
For months, two-time KSW interim featherweight champion Ruchala (11-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) heard frustration from fans eager to see him step back in the cage. But he listened to those he trusted – including his manager, Joanna Jedrzejczyk. He put his head down and grinded with elite training partners at American Top Team.
And then it happened.
“My exercise was a lot of training and waiting,” Ruchala told MMA Junkie in his first interview conducted in English. “In Poland after four or five months, I had a lot of haters because I waited. ‘OK, Rob. Rob, why are you waiting for UFC?’ Because the UFC is something big, yeah? It’s my dream, and I had to wait for my chance. After seven months, I signed the contract in the U.S. because I was at ATT for camp. Joanna told me that I had the contract on my email, and I had to sign it.”
Ruchala, 27, was one of a handful of top-tier veteran signings the UFC has made in recent months. His friend and fellow Pole, KSW bantamweight champion Jakub Wiklacz, was offered a contract at the same time as he was.
Known for his fun personality and creative social media posts, it was inevitable Ruchala would pull out all the stops for the biggest announcement of his career. He rounded up Wiklacz (16-3-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) and Jedrzejczyk and another Polish fighter Robert Ceremuga and asked them to put their acting skills to the test.
“I like funny videos. I’m very creative,” Ruchala said. “I like to record something for my social media. When I got the call from Joanna and Joanna told me the contract would send to my person for maybe one week, I told her that it will be good to record something special for the UFC contract. I asked my friend Jakub if it would be good to record something, something good. After this, in Poland and in Europe, it was very loud after this video. I’m happy. Bro, it’s my biggest dream to join the UFC. It’s the best league in the world, like the Champion’s League in football. I’m very excited to join to the UFC, and I can’t wait for my next fight.”
Embedded in greatness
Ruchala has to pinch himself sometimes. His heroes have somehow become his peers. He not only has UFC Hall of Famer Jedrzejczyk as his manager, but he’s embedded himself deep in the most elite training sub-circle of American Top Team.
He was a key member of the camp for Dustin Poirier’s retirement fight and trains with Mateusz Gamrot on a weekly basis. Ruchala doesn’t take the experience for granted. He sparred 20 rounds with Poirier prior to the bout.
“Dustin is my inspiration, and Max (Holloway) was the same,” Ruchala said. “When I was a child, I always watched Max (Holloway) and Dustin Poirier fights. … Sparring was very stressful for me because Dustin is the legend. After sparring, Dustin told me that it would be very good to train with me.
“… Dustin told me a lot of good words in sparring and in after. For me, it was a very, very big experience after sparring. … For me, it’s crazy. Crazy I watched his fights as a child and then I sparred with him. Brother, Dustin trained at American Top Team with a small group of fighters, and I joined into this group. I joined into this group and trained with him. Crazy.”
The big debut and beyond
Ruchala enters the UFC with about as impressive a 12-fight pro resume as humanly possible. He has six finishes in 11 victories, an 8-1 record in KSW, and his only loss came against Salahdine Parnasse, a fighter many believe is the best pound-for-pound outside the UFC.
“I think I’m very uncomfortable to fight,” Ruchala said. “I like the show. I like striking. I like all MMA. I think I’m a MMA fighter. I like striking. I like wrestling. I like Brazilian jiu-jitsu. But in the UFC, I want to give a show. In my fight, I always want to give you a show. In this fight, it will be a big challenge for me. I have to show something special.”
For his first UFC assignment, Ruchala will enter enemy territory Sept. 6 with a Paris debut against Frenchman William Gomis at UFC Fight Night 258. Gomis (14-3 MMA, 4-1 UFC) aims to bounce back from his first promotional loss, which came by split decision against Hyder Amil in March.
“For me, it’s good to fight with Gomis because this is my debut,” Ruchala said. “I think Gomis is a very good challenge for me, for my debut. Because Gomis fought in the UFC five times. For me, this is a big challenge. In KSW, I always had a lot of challenges. For example, I fought Lom-Ali Eskiev. I fought Salahdine Parnasse. I fought Kacper Formela. I had a lot of big fights and now this is my new challenge. This is something big. This is my debut in the UFC.”
“… It will be a good show for fans and it’ll be very good for the fans. But I had a lot of training. I had a lot of competition fights. For me, it’ll be good to show my skills. After finishing my contract in KSW, I made very big progress in my game. I had a lot of trips to other clubs and now I’m a different fighter. I want to show you my new skills.”
With a victory, Ruchala thinks ranked opposition will be next. Given his experience outside the promotion, a title run could be fast-tracked. To hold UFC gold is unsurprisingly the ultimate goal.
“I think when I win vs. Gomis, I think it’ll be very good for me to fight with top-15,” Ruchala said. “But I’m focused on my debut. I always focus on my fights. After, I will see. Because this is a fight. I have to focus on my fight now.
“… I watched a lot of fights in my division and I feel I can (win gold). I have always been into the sport. For me, it’s the biggest dream to fight for the UFC belt and in a championship bout. I think I can. But I have to wait. I have to wait. Because now I focus on my fight and after I will see.”
