Attempting to earn his first championship fight under the promotion’s banner next month at UFC 300, surging Armenian contender, Arman Tsarukyan claims that while former champion, Charles Oliveira presents a tricky stylistic matchup for the division – the Brazilian is simply “nothing special” overall.
Tsarukyan, the current number four ranked lightweight contender, enters his officially billed title eliminator clash with Oliveira in the midst of an impressive three fight winning run, most recently stopping common-foe, Beneil Dariush a one-sided first round KO loss inside just a minute in their UFC Fight Night Austin main event in December.
As for Oliveira, the Sao Paulo finishing star has been sidelined since last June, where he returned to the winner’s enclosure with an eye-catching first round win of his own over Iranian-born challenger, Dariush, with a ground strikes TKO success.
Charles Oliveira’s ability played down by Arman Tsarukyan
And drawing the streaking Tsarukyan next month in a main card opener at UFC 300 in Las Vegas, Oliveira, who along with the European will vie for a title rematch with Islam Makhachev, has had his ability played down by his incoming foe.
“Charles (Oliveira) is good at one thing: taking his opponent’s back and choking him out from that position,” Arman Tsarukayn told Red Corner MMA. “He has long limbs, so he’s good at taking the back, locking the triangle, and finishing the submission. But overall, he’s nothing special.”
“He has some tricks when pulling guard, but nothing extraordinary,” Arman Tsarukyan explained. “He’s got a great back-mount game where he chokes everybody out. This morning, we worked on these types of situations – what I should do if I get caught in that position. We’re working on it, but we shouldn’t let this happen in the fight.”
Who wins at UFC 300 next month: Charles Oliveira or Arman Tsarukyan?