Arman Tsarukyan sent a message to reigning lightweight champion Islam Makhachev following his stunning 64-second knockout of Beneil Dariush at UFC Austin.
Going into his contest with Dariush, ‘Ahalkalakets’ was sitting as the No. 8 ranked lightweight in the world, come Monday, he’ll see himself in the top five, moving him significantly closer to a potential rematch with Makhachev. Following his first-round destruction of Dariush in The Lone Star State, Arman Tsarukyan sent a message to the ‘Dagestani Destroyer’ letting him know that their title tilt won’t end the same way as their first meeting.
“I was 22 years old [when I first fought Makhachev],” Tsarukyan said. “Now I’m 27. I got improved. The next fight is going to be a different one. I’m going to knock him out.”
Arman Tsarukyan Could Be waiting a While for his lightweight title opportunity
Meeting in April 2019, Makhachev scored a decisive unanimous decision victory over Tsarukyan. Makhachev is currently on a 13-fight win streak which includes his world title-winning performance against Charles Oliveira last year and back-to-back defenses against featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski.
Tsarukyan has now won eight of his last nine and could very well be one big win away from a long-awaited title opportunity. Unfortunately, even with his big win over Dariush, Tsarukyan could still be waiting for quite a while with both Charles Oliveira and Justin Gaethje awaiting their own shot at the 155-pound crown.