Rivalries: Arman Tsarukyan

The jury remains out on the height of Arman Tsarukyan’s ceiling in the Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight division.

“Ahalkalakets” will carry a 20-3 record into his UFC on ESPN 52 headliner opposite Kings MMA mainstay Beneil Dariush this Saturday at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas. Tsarukyan, 27, enters the Octagon on the heels of back-to-back victories, having won seven of his past eight fights. He last appeared on June 17, when he drowned Joaquim Silva with punches in the third round of their featured UFC on ESPN 47 co-main event.

As Tsarukyan makes final preparations for his forthcoming battle with Dariush at 155 pounds, a look at a few of the rivalries that have helped shape his career to this point:

Islam Makhachev

The Russian took another step toward the top of the lightweight division when he laid claim to a unanimous verdict over Tsarukyan in the UFC Fight Night 149 co-main event on April 20, 2019 at the Yubileyny Sports Complex in St. Petersburg, Russia. Scores were 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28, all for the surging Makhachev. The 22-year-old Tsarukyan put up considerable resistance in his promotional debut but fell short against a more experienced and polished opponent. Makhachev’s four takedowns provided the difference, afforded him extended periods of dominance and wiped away the possibility of an upset. The Khabib Nurmagomedov protégé was credited with more than six minutes of control time. Makhachev has since gone on to capture the undisputed UFC lightweight championship.

Olivier Aubin-Mercier

Stock in Tsarukyan continued its upward trajectory when he took a unanimous decision from “The Ultimate Fighter Nations” finalist in a UFC 240 lightweight showcase on July 27, 2019 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta. All three judges struck 29-28 scorecards for the Russian prospect. An accomplished judoka and a physical force at 155 pounds, Aubin-Mercier was undoubtedly caught off-guard by the 22-year-old’s tactics. Tsarukyan closed the distance repeatedly, trapped the Tristar Gym rep in the clinch and went to work with short punches and knees to the legs. Aubin-Mercier wobbled the Russian with a well-timed knee in the second round but failed to follow it with anything of substance and wound up spinning his wheels once again. Tsarukyan put to bed any hopes of a comeback in Round 3, where he countered a takedown into top position and applied his ground-and-pound, alternating between elbows and standing-to-ground punches.

Matt Frevola

Tsarukyan executed repeated takedowns and paired them with positional advances and ground-and-pound, as he cruised to a unanimous decision over the Serra-Longo Fight Team export in the featured UFC 257 prelim on Jan. 23, 2021 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Scores were 30-27, 30-27 and 30-26. Despite his best efforts, Frevola was out of his depth in terms of talent and technique. Tsarukyan—who missed weight for the match by one pound—was a step ahead on the feet, on the ground and in the clinch. Clearly ahead on the scorecards, the American Top Team standout continued to apply maximum pressure and pursued the finish until the final horn. By the time it was over, Tsarukyan had completed 10 takedowns and outstruck the Huntington, New York, native by a 103-51 margin.

Mateusz Gamrot

The former two-division KSW champion on June 25, 2022 outhustled and outgrappled Tsarukyan to a unanimous decision in the UFC on ESPN 38 headliner at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. All three members of the cageside judiciary scored it 48-47 for Gamrot, who staked his claim as a Top 10 lightweight. Tsarukyan leaned on a multi-level kicking game—those thrown to the body landed with considerable force—and succeeded in shutting off the Pole’s early takedowns. However, Gamrot’s stick-to-itiveness eventually took a toll on his counterpart. He executed four of his six completed takedowns in the fourth and fifth rounds, forced Tsarukyan into prolonged grappling exchanges along the fence and turned the encounter into a slog down the stretch. It may not have been pretty, but it was undeniably effective.