Tsarukyan has been left without a fight date as he awaits news on a Makhachev injury which could still require surgery in a few months.
Arman Tsarukyan is learning the hard way what happens when you turn down a quick turnaround title shot for one further down the road.
After defeating Charles Oliveira at UFC 300 in April, Tsarukyan could have stepped in two months later and fought Islam Makhachev for the title in June. Instead, he turned that date down and Makhachev fought Dustin Poirier instead.
Tsarukyan figured he’d wait until October for Makhachev’s annual Abu Dhabi pay-per-view fight tradition. But now Islam has revealed he has an injured hand and won’t be able to fight in October … or perhaps 2024 at all. Then it’s a ticking clock until Ramadan starts in February 2025.
In a new interview with Submission Radio, Arman discussed how this sudden change of fortune was affecting him.
“So my manager told me I’m going to fight in October versus Islam,” Tsarukyan said. “And then he said to you, you see, like that, he got injured. And now they moved that fight to December or maybe next year.”
“So of course it’s sad, because I already started training very hard and I’m in shape, and I thought we’re going to fight in October. But it is what it is. So if it’s December for me, it doesn’t matter. I’m going to wait and train as much as I can.”
If there’s further delays, Tsarukyan hopes the UFC pulls out an interim belt.
“If Islam can’t fight this year, for sure I would like to fight for the interim title,” he said. “And doesn’t matter who is going to be in front of me. Dustin Poirier, he’s a solid fighter and he has a lot of experience. Yeah, it would be great. Dustin, [Justin] Gaethje, Michael Chandler as well. But my focus is on Islam.”
Tsarukyan isn’t just waiting on Makhachev. He’s also beholden to the UFC’s schedule, which already has a Conor McGregor fight penciled in for their December PPV. That makes Makhachev on that card unlikely. As for January and February, we don’t know what the UFC is planning yet.
Tsarukyan vs. Gaethje for an interim sounds pretty all right to us, though, if not particularly necessary.