Ahead of his first shot at UFC gold, Arman Tsarukyan put his submission skills to the test against an alligator during a fishing trip to the Everglades.
After scoring a big split decision victory over Charles Oliveira at UFC 300 in April, ‘Ahalkalakets’ slid into the No. 1 spot in the lightweight rankings, putting him in pole position for a shot at the division’s reigning champion, Islam Makhachev.
Until then, Tsarukyan is out here in South Florida picking off gators.
Adding some context to the above image (originally shared on his Instagram), Tsarukyan revealed that he had literally “choked out” the alligator after trapping it with nothing more than a hook in the river.
“I choked him out,” Tsarukyan told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. “I pulled him out from the river, choked him, and put him on my back. In Florida, I got a license to kill the alligator. You throw the hook in the river, the alligator got the hook and you got to pull it. We pulled two. Me and my friend we pulled one alligator. He was like seven or eight feet, but there is 12 feet, 13 feet alligators and hopefully, he was small. Maybe 50-70 pounds.
“Catch it without meat or anything. Just hook, empty hook. I kill a lot of animals, but I didn’t post it because other animals, it’s sad, but alligators, it’s okay” (h/t BJPenn.com).
Arman Tsarukyan Eyeing Fall 2024 for Islam Makhachev rematch
Including his win over ‘Do Bronx’ at the promotion’s landmark event, Arman Tsarukyan finds himself on a four-fight win streak kickstarted by a victory over Damir Ismagulov in December 2022. He followed that up with a pair of W’s against Joaquim Silva and Beneil Dariush before taking out the former 155-pound champ.
Tsarukyan has only lost twice inside the Octagon, one of those defeats coming during his promotional debut at the hands of Islam Makhachev. Five years later, it looks like the two will tussle one more time with Tsarukyan fighting for both legacy and redemption.
As of now, there is no announced date for the long-awaited rematch, but Tsarukyan told Helwani that it’ll either be October in Abu Dhabi, or November in New York.