The number eight ranked lightweight, Russian Arman Tsarukyan, said in a chat with that his grappling and finishing on the floor would have earned him victory in a duel with former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira if such a fight had taken place.
Oliveira was the UFC lightweight champion but lost the title after failing to meet the pre-fight category limit with Justin Gaethje. The Brazilian lightweight then fought for the vacant belt with Islam Makhachev in Abu Dhabi, but lost by rear naked choke in the second round. On June 10, Oliveira defeated Beneil Dariush in the co-main event of UFC 289.
– How do you like the fight of the summits of your weight Dariuash and Oliveira?
“To be honest, I thought Dariush would win. I thought he was fine. But yesterday I met Ali Abdelaziz (manager of Beneil Dariush, – “”), I asked what happened, and he said that there was a very difficult weight race, he drove weight for eight hours and recovered very poorly. They don’t advertise it, but it’s clear he’s not himself, he didn’t feel good in the fight.
– Who do you think they will have as rivals now?
– I think Oliveira will have Makhachev and Dariush will have me.
How would you fight Oliveira?
– I would translate it, to be honest, and I wouldn’t let it out from below. Let him lie in the hilt, trying to throw triangles. I would have scored it and therefore I would have won all the rounds.
– There is no feeling that he would have tried to make a reception and would have done it?
– Well, he couldn’t make the reception to Dariush in three minutes. Makhachev could not. And few people he was able to receive from below. He is only dangerous if he takes the back, and on the back he is not very dangerous,” Tsarukyan told .
26-year-old Tsarukyan’s statistics in MMA are 19 wins and 3 losses, in the UFC the Russian has 6 wins and two losses against Islam Makhachev and Mateusz Gamrot.
Tsarukyan will face Brazilian Joaquim Silva at the UFC tournament in Las Vegas. Watch the live broadcast of the fights during this evening from 01:55 on June 18 on the channel, as well as on the sites sportbox.ru and matchtv.ru.
Source : MatchTV
I am Ashley Ortiz and I am a professional journalist working for Athletistic. My specialty is in sports journalism, particularly boxing. I have written articles for some of the most renowned publications on the subject, and my work has been featured across both print and digital media platforms.
