Almost a week removed from his scheduled UFC 311 main event against Islam Makhachev, Arman Tsarukyan has described the 20-hour ordeal that led to him pulling out.
Just a day out from his scheduled main event at UFC 311 against Islam Makhachev, Tsarukyan shockingly withdrew from the fight due to a back injury.
Following the event in which Makhachev defended his title against Renato Moicano in a late-notice replacement fight, UFC CEO Dana White revealed that Tsarukyan won’t be getting the next title shot.
Although White’s comments came as quite a surprise to the UFC fanbase, Tsarukyan agreed with White and instead outlined the fight he wanted next.
Tsarukyan explains the horrific ordeal that led to his UFC 311 withdrawal
Arman Tsarukyan was touted to be the biggest threat to Makhachev’s title reign but he unfortunately missed out on his opportunity.
And with that, now almost a week out from his UFC 311 withdrawal, the 28-year-old has explained exactly what happened during the 20-hour ordeal.
“Wednesday I had my evening training session and after when I went to sleep I started to feel my lower back and I couldn’t sleep all night and I woke up, maybe I slept like, 30 minutes and I was feeling crazy pain in my lower back,” Tsarukyan told The Jaxxon Podcast.
“That (next) morning I didn’t train and we said we’re gonna wait until the evening and let’s see how my back is gonna feel and then we went to the press conference, after the press conference it was okay and I started to cut my weight.
“During my weight cut my lower back started (to feel worse) when I was on the bike. I was laying down cutting my weight, weight was good, it was going down good, and then we called the doctor to come and see.
“I went to sleep 6lbs over and I was going to (cut it) in the morning but I couldn’t sleep all night (again)… I couldn’t even move on my back and at 5 AM I called and said I couldn’t cut weight because I couldn’t move,” he said.
The Armenian went on to explain that he was on his back for almost 20 hours not being able to move and had no choice other than to withdraw from the fight.
What’s next for Arman Tsarukyan following UFC 311?
‘Ahalkalakets’ stated that he would like to rematch Charles Oliveira in a five-round fight to determine who the next contender is and following Makhachev’s manager’s recent comments regarding the UFC’s plan for Islam’s next fight, that could come to fruition.
Oliveira had a similar situation to Tsarukyan when he withdrew from his UFC 294 fight against Makhachev, subsequently losing his title shot.
With ‘Do Bronx’ having only picked up a win over Michael Chandler since his UFC 300 loss to Tsaruykan, he may need another win himself before he is considered for another shot.