Islam Makhachev vs. Arman Tsarukyan is off after the latter pulled out with a back injury, as Renato Moicano steps in.
The clash takes place at UFC 311 on Saturday. The news means that Islam will now face an unknown opponent. He entered the fight with a victory against Dustin Poirier at UFC 302. It was the third time he had defended his belt successfully. He has spoken about moving up to welterweight. Belal Muhammad is the current UFC Welterweight Champion after having beaten Leon Edwards to pick up the belt. The Arman fight would have been ideal since Islam beat him in 2019. He was also preparing for the fight over a long period. Arman has now responded.
“I regret to inform everyone that the news is that I had to pull out of UFC 311 with a back injury is true. This was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make in my fighting career. I would like to thank the UFC for understanding and I look forward to competing for my first UFC Championship in the future. Thank you all for your support,” Tsarukyan stated
Now, he must get ready to face Moicano. Renato is no pushover as he arrives into the fight with a four-fight win streak. He has stopped three of those opponents. In his last fight, he stopped Benoît Saint-Denis in Paris via a second-round TKO. His current record stands at 7-2 since he moved to lightweight in 2020. While Islam is the favorite, the bout has gotten people talking.
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Coach @TeamKhabib keeps it real 💯
— UFC_Asia (@UFC_Asia) January 17, 2025
He shares his thoughts following the #UFC311 main event shakeup! pic.twitter.com/SaUJt1CTIX
“Honestly, I knew this yesterday, at 1 a.m, [overnight] before I [went] to sleep. Honestly, this can happen with anybody. If you guys remember 2017, March, it happened with me too. Then after that, I go to hospital, make surgery, come back and I tell UFC, ‘It was my mistake, give me other best guy. I’m going to beat this guy and deserve my title shot.’ It was the same thing with me. I just want to wish him all the best. He’s young. He’s tough. He can come back. He [has] to survive this situation and come back.
“Now, new main event. I think with Moicano, he has very big experience in the UFC… 10, 11 years in UFC. He [has four-fight] win streak, and he’s on his prime. It’s a good fight. “Of course, it’s not like Arman and Islam, but it’s still very competitive fight, and we [are] not going to underestimate this guy,” Khabib Nurmagomedov said
Full Card
Islam Makhachev (C) vs. Arman Tsarukyan: UFC lightweight title fight
Merab Dvalishvili (C) vs. Umar Nurmagomedov: UFC bantamweight title fight
Jiri Prochazka vs. Jamahal Hill
Beneil Dariush vs. Renato Moicano
Kevin Holland vs. Reinier de Ridder
Prelims
Payton Talbott vs. Raoni Barcelos
Jailton Almeida vs. Serghei Spivac
Bogdan Guskov vs. Billy Elekana
Grant Dawson vs. Diego Ferreira
Early prelims
Zachary Reese vs. Azamat Bekoev
Karol Rosa vs. Ailin Perez
Rinya Nakamura vs. Muin Gafurov
Ricky Turcios vs. Bernardo Sopaj
Tagir Ulanbekov vs. Clayton Carpenter