Los Angeles — Arman Tsarukyan enters his first title shot in the UFC six years after his first fight with Islam Makhachev. At UFC 311, the stakes will be much higher in the pair’s rematch, with Makhachev holding gold, and Tsarukyan looking to avenge a unanimous decision loss.
Much has changed since those first two fights. Then fresh-faced and making his promotional debut, Tsarukyan (22-3) is now 28 and entering his prime. Islam Makhachev, at 33, is the veteran champ, one who looked mortal, if just a little, last time out against Dustin Poirier.
Yet while Makhachev might have made some questionable decisions against Poirier, Tsarukyan doesn’t seem to be reading too much into them. “Of course everybody has mistakes. To watch fights is so easy, but to fight is so difficult,” he noted during Wednesday’s UFC 311 media day, with Cageside Press and other outlets on hand. “When I watch my fights, I think ‘why I did some stupid mistakes?'”
“Everybody makes mistakes, and he had two in his last fight. Previous fight with [Alexander] Volkanovski was no mistakes, just a short fight. Yeah, but he finished in the fifth round [against Poirier], so he got the performance and he looked good.”
Despite the added weight of a UFC championship fight and what it might mean for his legacy, Tsarukyan isn’t viewing it much differently from any other bout.
“I don’t feel pressure. I just, I’m doing it for fun but I have a goal to be a champion. I started doing this for fun, and then I became a professional fighter, UFC fighter and now I’m just 28-years old. I have six years, seven years to build my name very big, make a lot of money, defend as much as possible and to be number one in this game,” he stated.
Should Arman Tsarukyan come away with the win this Saturday, he and Makhachev will be 1-1 in their career series. That, as fight fans know, will lead to talk of a trilogy. And Tsarukyan is already game to put together the pair’s own version of Frankie Edgar-Gray Maynard.
“I can tell right now it’s going to be one of the best fights in the lightweight division. Everybody is waiting for this fight, and the trilogy is going to be the same, everybody is going to talk about this fight,” predicted Tsarukyan, who clearly believes the pair will make a lasting impression. “Our [first] fight was six, almost six years ago and everybody talks about that fight as well, because six years ago we showed so good a fight, and everybody talks about that fight. I can imagine what happens this Saturday, we have improved so much, and this time it’s going to be the same. People are going to talk about this fight the next ten years as well.”
Watch the full UFC 311 media day appearance by Arman Tsarukyan above.