Arman Tsarukyan has shed light on the debilitating back injury that caused him to withdraw from his highly anticipated lightweight title bout against Islam Makhachev at UFC 311. The injury not only robbed him of a chance to avenge his prior loss to Makhachev but also placed his championship aspirations on hold.
During a recent appearance on the Jaxxon Podcast, Arman Tsarukyan recounted the events leading up to his withdrawal. The injury occurred after his final training session, and the pain worsened during his weight cut. He described the ordeal, saying:
“Wednesday I had a nice training session… And after when I went to sleep, I started feeling my lower back and I couldn’t sleep all night and then I woke up. Like slept 30 minutes for the whole night. I was feeling like crazy pain on my lower back… That morning I didn’t train. And we [team] said we’re going to wait until evening and let’s see how my back going to feel. And then we went to the press conference.”
Despite his efforts to push through, including consulting with doctors, the pain became unbearable:
“After press conference, It was okay I started cutting weight. During the weight cut, my lower back started [to pain] when I was doing the bike [workout]. And then I was laying down, cutting weight. The weight was going good.. And then we called a doctor to come… I went to sleep six pounds over and wanted to do it in morning, but could’t sleep all night as well, and back was hurting. Like I couldn’t event move in on bed. So I was just laying down. So at 5 AM I just told I cannot cut weight because I cannot move.”
Check out Arman Tsarukyan’s comments below:
💔 Arman Tsarukyan explains why he pulled out the day before he was supposed to fight Islam Makhachev at UFC 311. (YT/ Jaxxon Podcast) pic.twitter.com/EiGVC5aXzN
— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) January 22, 2025