To many, Makhachev has looked unbeatable, and he has been aside from his only loss in 2015. The same can be said, however, about Tsarukyan. Largely competing in Russia from 2015-2018, Tsarukyan would amass a 13-1 record before signing with the UFC in 2019 and getting offered a fight with Makhachev in Saint Petersburg on short notice.
Despite the 10 days’ notice, the Georgian and Dagestani went back and forth for all three rounds, displaying some of the best technical wrestling the Octagon has seen. In the end, it was Makhachev who would get his hand raised, with the pair earning Fight of the Night honors.
Regardless of the result that night, Tsarukyan made a real statement to the 155-pound division with that performance because whenever we saw someone fight Makhachev, we’d usually see the Dagestani’s wrestling overwhelm and nullify whatever his opponent had planned. That wasn’t the case when Makhachev met Tsarukyan.
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Tsarukyan has been the only man to really match Makhachev’s grappling. In fact, Tsarukyan was the first man to take Makhachev down inside the Octagon. On short notice, he proved he was a complete mixed martial artist, with the striking and grappling he needed to reach the top.
After his loss to Makhachev, Tsarukyan went on to win four straight inside the Octagon, and with a recent first-round finish over Christos Giagos in September, he is looking to finally crack the Top 10.
“This fight shows who is going to be Top 10. After this fight, I’m going to have a lot of opportunity,” he said. “I can get fighters from the Top Five, or Top 10, it doesn’t matter. This is a very big fight for me.”
While he may be competing on the same card as the man that handed him his only loss inside the Octagon, Tsarukyan doesn’t put too much thought into that. In fact, he looks at that as an opportunity to showcase his growth.