Arman Tsarukyan | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Arman Tsarukyan missed out on the opportunity of a lifetime, but is confident he made the right call.

The top lightweight contender was scheduled to fight champion Islam Makhachev in the main event of UFC 311, which went down at Intuit Dome in Los Angeles this past Saturday, but plans changed at the last second when Tsarukyan was forced to withdraw due to a back injury. Renato Moicano stepped in for Tsarukyan and went on to lose to Makhachev via first-round submission.

On Monday, Tsarukyan appeared on The Ariel Helwani Show, where he went into detail on when the injury occurred and the decision-making process that led to he and his team making the call to pull out. The fighter was told there was an issue with his sciatic nerve, even though there were no issues with his back ahead of fight week.

“I didn’t have anything with my lower back [in training camp], like with my sciatic nerve, I didn’t have anything,” Tsarukyan said. “I had from my neck to my back, but it’s a completely different thing. Of course, every camp we have something, like, I hurt my elbow, I hurt my knee,’ but it was not that bad that you couldn’t continue your training camp. Every fighter has a small injury.

“Everything was good. Wednesday, after training, I went to sleep and I start to feel my lower back, and I couldn’t sleep all night, and I thought something happened. I took some painkillers, and they didn’t help. The next day, I thought it’s going to be good and after press conference I’m going to start my weight cut. When I started my weight cut, I was doing bike, and then that moment my back stuck, and I couldn’t move. I couldn’t move, I just laid down in the hot tub, it was crazy pain. I couldn’t do cardio. And then UFC doctors 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 your weight.’ I was, like, six pounds left when I went to sleep, and the pain was the same. Five a.m. I just told my manager it’s the same pain, I couldn’t move, my lower back stuck and I cannot continue.”

When news broke of Tsarukyan’s withdrawal, speculation immediately ran rampant as to when the injury actually occurred, its severity, and whether it was related to his weight cut. There was also plenty of talk around a viral clip from a vlog posted by UFC personality Nina Marie Daniele, which showed Tsarukyan doing some elaborate neck and back exercises.

Tsarukyan was asked about the clip and quickly shot down the notion it had anything to do with his back problems.

“No, that thing I’m doing every day for my warmup,” Tsarukyan said. “If I had a problem during training camp, how can I do this exercise? I didn’t feel anything. I was good and I was ready and I was training very hard during the week, I had good energy, no problem. It just happened when I started to cut weight. It’s because when you’re dehydrated, maybe because of that it happened as well.”

Tsarukyan called his UFC 311 withdrawal “the most difficult decision of my life,” though he doesn’t regret avoiding a situation where he might be compromised or cause himself long-term damage. And even though UFC CEO Dana White later declared that the promotion is moving on from the Makhachev-Tsarukyan matchup for now, that’s no issue for Tsarukyan, who tweeted out that he’s on the same page as White.

That said, Tsarukyan isn’t sure if White is upset with his decision, possibly because of a miscommunication.

“Maybe a doctor [told White] ‘He could fight,’ I don’t know,” Tsarukyan said. “But I was training so hard, I was cutting my weight, I was dieting eight weeks, just on my mind, if I step in the cage I make a lot of money. I wanted to be on this fight more than everybody. Even if I lose, but lose good, I could make good money, but I couldn’t walk that night.”

Optimistically, Tsarukyan would like to be back by April, but he has no firm timetable for his return. His top choice is to fight Charles Oliveira, this time in a five-rounder after Tsarukyan previously won a narrow decision over Oliveira in a three-round fight at UFC 300 this past April.

Michael Chandler also dropped a few comments on social media angling for a fight with Tsarukyan, which suits Tsarukyan just fine.

“I’m down with everybody because I know I can beat everybody,” Tsarukyan said. “If they want me to beat Chandler and then again Oliveira and then fight for the title with Islam, I’m down, because Islam’s not going to come back soon. He’s going to fight maybe in six months.”

TOP STORIES

Review. The MMA Fighting crew breaks down all the odds and ends from a memorable UFC 311 card.

No. 1. Khabib Nurmagomedov is confident Islam Makhachev is the best fighter in the world after another dominant performance.

Barf. Merab Dvalishvili’s leg was a friggin’ mess not long before UFC 311 fight week.

Choice. Will Francis Ngannou continue to jump between boxing and MMA?

Escalation. Magomed Ankalaev and Alex Pereira are official for UFC 313, and Ankalev thinks Pereira just signed his “death certificate.”

Still beefing. Paddy Pimblett and Renato Moicano are at it again.

VIDEO STEW

Town Hall Q&A with GFL’s Darren Owen.

Already back on the content grind.

Pitbull.

Almighty reaction.

2Straws on UFC 311.

Is Dvalishvili the BW GOAT?

SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

Iron sharpens iron.

The combat sports schedule.

Best knockouts of the week, a thread.

Future champ.

Relentless.

Facts.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The UFC is off to a fine start with the appetizer that was UFC Vegas 101 and the well-cooked meal that was UFC 311, the promotion’s first pay-per-view offering of 2025. Aside from a few hiccups, fans couldn’t have asked for much more from a card that delivered elite performances from two of the best fighters in the world, a few flashy finishes, and a pair of early Fight of the Year contenders in Jiri Prochazka vs. Jamahal Hill and Merab Dvalishvili vs. Umar Nurmagomedov.

We have a break from UFC this upcoming weekend, but make sure to check out the PFL’s latest offering on Saturday and then get ready for UFC Saudi Arabia up next.

EXIT POLL

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