Arman Tsarukyan picked up the biggest win of his career thus far at UFC 300 on Saturday, beating Charles Oliveira in a close three-round battle.
Going into the fight, Dana White labeled it as a number one contender fight, with the winner set to challenge lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, next.
The Russian has made it clear that he wants to defend his 155lb title in June, and prior to UFC 300, it seemed as though the UFC was going to give the title shot to Dustin Poirier, simply due to timing.
Despite that, the promotion is yet to announce that rumored fight, leaving the door open for Arman Tsarukyan.
The UFC recently announced they are returning to Newark, New Jersey on June 1st for UFC 302, with that being the possible event for Makhachev’s next fight.
Arman Tsarukyan edges a split decision win over Charles Oliveira at UFC 300
Arman Tsarukyan displayed a different side to his game in his last fight against Beneil Dariush in December, knocking him out in the first round of their main event.
He was then given a big step up against ‘Do Bronx’ Oliveira.
The opening round between the two was a relatively close one, with ‘Ahalkalakets’ getting the better of the standing exchanges. Despite that, Charles Oliveira pounced on a guillotine and sunk it in extremely tight.
Tsarukyan did extremely well to somehow break out of the choke and maintained top control for the rest of round one, where he landed several big elbows.
The final round was all to play for with it likely being 1-1. The forward pressure and subsequent takedown in round three from Tsarukyan secured him the fight.
Islam Makhachev issues message to Arman Tsarukyan
Back in 2019 when the Armenian arrived on the scene, he was tasked with a fight against Islam Makhachev in his UFC debut, which he lost via decision.
After securing his fourth win in a row at UFC 300, there is a high chance that he has secured a rematch with the Russian.
The champion took to social media following Tsarukyan’s win to issue him a warning. “Be ready. See you soon boy.” Makhachev said on X.
Despite the message being short and to the point, Makhachev may have the final say on who he defends his title against next, between Arman Tsarukyan and Dustin Poirier.