Makhachev And Tsarukyan’s Intense Face-Off At Final Presser

January 17, 2025
1 month
Makhachev And Tsarukyan's Intense Face-Off At Final Presser

Islam Makhachev and Arman Tsarukyan had an intense face-off in their pre-fight presser ahead of their lightweight clash at UFC 311 on Saturday. 

Makhachev puts his UFC Lightweight Title on the line. Islam defeated Dustin Poirier at UFC 302 in his last fight. He secured a last-round submission to secure a third successful defense of his title. A win over Arman will increase the calls on him to move up to welterweight. The current champion is Belal Muhammad, who beat Leon Edwards to gain the belt.

Islam wants to become a two-weight champion, meaning the win is all the more important. Arman will hope to reverse the result from the first fight. Islam won a unanimous decision in 2019. But since then, Arman has improved his form. Arman has nine wins, with one loss during that period. He has also knocked out two of his last three opponents. He enters the fight with a win over Charles Oliveira at UFC 300. 

In chief support, Merab Dvalishvili defends his UFC Bantamweight Belt against Umar Nurmagomedov for the first time. Merab secured the belt after giving Sean O’Malley his second loss. He beat Suga in a unanimous decision at UFC 306. The card set a UFC live gate record of $22 million. Umar is undefeated with a 6-0 record. He beat Cory Sandhagen in his last fight. He has accused Merab of trying to avoid him. The winner will become the best bantamweight in the world, as the talking is almost over. Here is what the fighters had to say during the presser. 

Presser

Predictions

“I think he [Arman] can get it done. I think he’s an athlete. Look how flexible he is. Look how he got out of that choke with Charles. That was impressive, man. He dug deep for that. And, you know, he’s got a better coach, you know, he’s got, he’s got a great coach. So, you know, I believe in him. He’s an athlete. He’s got big power in his hands. You know, if he believes in those hands, I think he can knock out Makachev,” Colby Covington 

“I think Islam is going to win. And the reason why I think that is because, you know, Islam slows down in his fights. What I’m saying is nothing new. Everybody knows that, but when they fought, Arman actually slowed down more than Islam. So I think that that tells you that’s a big advantage, because in my opinion, if Arman wins, he normally would have to win early against Makhachev. I don’t see him winning a five-round fight against Makhachev personally,” Beniel Dariush 

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

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