High Hopes for Zebenzui Ruiz

All Zebenzui Ruiz needed was an opportunity, and the Professional Fighters League provided it for him.

The 31-year-old Spaniard was announced as one of eight bantamweight participants—Magomed Magomedov, Leandro Higo, Sarvarjon Khamidov, Kasum Kasumov, Ciaran Clarke, Ali Taleb and Jake Hadley are the others—in the upcoming 2025 PFL World Tournament, which kicks off on April 3 at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. A $500,000 payday awaits the eventual winner.

“I think they are some of the best fighters in the world at [135 pounds],” Ruiz told Sherdog.com. “I think they are all very complete. It will be a great and entertaining tournament. I expect to get to the final and win it. All the other adversaries are very good. You know the tournaments can be. It could be anyone.”

Ruiz will enter the bantamweight draw having won his past five bouts. He last competed at a Fighting from the Sea event on April 27, when he turned away Pedro Souza via first-round technical knockout. Ruiz—who started his formal martial arts training with muay thai at age 11—has spent the majority of his career in his native Spain but points to an August 2018 assignment in Eastern Europe as a turning point, as he submitted Iliya Maksimov with a rear-naked choke in the second round of their encounter under the League S-70 banner.

“The most important moment of my career [so far] was when I went to Russia,” he said. “It was a country where I’d wanted to fight. It was a state-run event, and they awarded me best fight of the night.”

Ruiz has one PFL appearance under his belt: He took a unanimous decision from Raphael Uchegbu in 2022. Now 12-3 and approaching the sternest test of his career, “El Nino Roca” fine tunes his all-terrain skills at The Fighter’s Club Arucas in the Canary Islands, off the coast of Morocco.

“The preparation is going well,” Ruiz said. “I’m going to bring in people from Spain and Poland. We’re bringing in people to our gym. All the work will be done here until the day I leave for the United States. I focus on my striking with a coach who is helping me. Physical conditioning is done at a high-performance center here on the island. I’m doing a little bit of everything, as I’ve always done.”