Arman Tsarukyan reacts to losing title shot: 'I'm not surprised'

01/21/2025 01:39 PM

Arman Tsarukyan may be the No. 1 ranked lightweight contender but he's going to have to work his way back to a title shot.  

Tsarukyan was scheduled to face champion Islam Makhachev in the UFC 311 main event last Saturday but pulled out of the fight the day before the event due to a back injury.  His withdrawal forced a shakeup to the fight card resulting in Renato Moicano stepping in to take on Makhachev and Moicano's original opponent, Beneil Dariush, being removed from the fight card altogether.  

Tsarukyan explained what happened that forced him out of UFC 311 during an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show.  "Everything was good but like Wednesday after training I went to sleep and I started to feel my lower back.  I couldn't sleep all night and I felt something happened. I took some pain killers and they didn't help, but the next day I felt like it's going to be good, after the press conference I'm going to start my weight cut," Tsarukyan said.  

"When I started my weight cut I was doing bike and like that moment my back like stuck and I couldn't move.  I couldn't move.  I just laid down," Tsarukyan explained.  "It was crazy pain.  I couldn't do cardio.  And then the UFC doctor came and started to help me, do some PT and they said, 'You're going to be alright in the morning.  If you're going to feel the same, you can't continue cutting weight.'  I was like six pounds left when I went to sleep.  The pain was the same and at like 5 a.m. I said [to] my manager, 'It's the same pain.'  I couldn't move.  My lower back was stuck and I can not continue."   

During the UFC 311 Post-Fight Press Conference, UFC CEO Dana White revealed that Tsarukyan will not be getting the next title shot. "He's not getting a title shot," White said. "That means he's going to have to fight his way back to the title."

"I'm not surprised (White said that).  When you have a big fight and you miss your opportunity, you have to go back and fight with anybody to deserve again to be the No. 1 contender," Tsarukyan said in reaction to White's comments.  

"Right now, I beat Charles Oliveira.  He's No. 2.  I don't know.  If it makes sense, I'll fight with anybody."