Arman Tsarukyan is closing in on the biggest fight of his career thus far, as he takes on former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira at UFC 300 on April 13th.
Arman Tsarukyan picked up a big win last time out against Beneil Dariush, knocking him out in the first round of their December 2nd main event.
Charles Oliveira was scheduled for a rematch with lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev, at UFC 294 in October, but the Brazilian withdrew from the fight due to a cut he sustained in training.
Arman Tsarukyan reflects on the beginning of his UFC career
Leading up to his high-stakes fight with ‘Do Bronx’ Oliveira, the 27-year-old has reflected on the beginning of his UFC tenure, which only began in 2019.
The Armenian’s UFC debut came against none other than Islam Makhachev when the Russian was on his rise up the 155lb division. Tsarukyan lost that fight via unanimous decision, which resulted in him feeling a lot of pressure in his next fight.
His second UFC outing was his hardest so far, he admitted in an interview with Red Corner MMA. “My hardest fight in the UFC was the second one.” Tsarukyan explained.
‘Ahalkalkets’ fought Olivier Aubin-Mercier in his second UFC fight, just three months after his debut loss to Makhachev. The Armenian traveled to Canada for UFC 240, where he took on ‘The Canadian Gangster’ in his home country.
Tsarukyan explained how nervous he was for that fight as if he lost, he believed the UFC would cut him after just two fights.
“I lost to Islam and then flew over to Canada with no coaches. I felt nervous as I thought that if I’d lost they would’ve removed me from the UFC.
“0-2 in the UFC and my career is over, so I was scared of embarrassing myself. I won the first round and the second round was really close and it was in Canada. So I am sitting in my corner and saying to myself, if I lose the third one, it’s over for me.” Tsarukyan added.
Despite picking up the win, the 27-year-old revealed that the UFC didn’t like how he won the fight, and he feels like it led to the UFC not treating him well in the following years of his career.
“I managed to win the fight, although the UFC didn’t like the way I got the win, and for a couple of years they didn’t treat me so well, I was not getting as many fights as I wanted.” Tsarukyan explained.
He then went on to string together five wins in a row which saw him given a main event fight against Mateusz Gamrot, which he narrowly lost.
A win over Oliveira may not secure a title shot
Although the lightweight division is one of the deepest in the UFC, there is some uncertainty towards the top.
Islam Makhachev is likely defending his title against Dustin Poirier in June, simply because Poirier is the only top 155lber available for that date. That leaves the next title shot up for grabs.
Justin Gaethje is seemingly next in line after Poirier, but he has to get through Max Holloway first in the UFC 300 co-main event.
If Arman Tsarukyan can score an impressive finish over Charles Oliveira, he may leapfrog Gaethje or Holloway and secure himself the next title shot, but that likely wouldn’t come till the end of the year.