
LOS ANGELES — It’s not that Islam Makhachev underestimated Arman Tsarukyan after they first fought in April 2019. Preparation is his entire factor. Depth, self-discipline, grit, exhaustiveness — they’re the constructing block values of the long run hall-of-famer’s profession.
He couldn’t estimate him. Desperately in want of an opponent forward of a house card in St. Petersburg, Russia, Makhachev agreed to that combat on 4 weeks’ discover not understanding the very first thing about who Tsarukyan was.
The mysterious Armenian had spent his transient skilled profession dusting cans with tiny regional promotions in Russia, China, and South Korea. You couldn’t find the venues of those fights, not to mention the movie. On Tsarukyan’s Tapology page, one in every of his victories is listed merely as “Win.” Not “KO/TKO at 1:47 of the primary spherical,” not “Rear Bare Choke at 3:54 of the second spherical.” Simply “Win.”
So, was that unfamiliarity the explanation why Tsarukyan pushed Makhachev so far as he did, giving the present UFC light-weight champion one of many stiffest assessments in his dominant profession? Or — humorous as it’s to say a couple of division’s No. 1 contender — is Tsarukyan higher than folks give him credit score for? Was he simply forward of his time when he first confronted Makhachev, and now, almost six years of expertise and improvement later, a totally shaped entity able to shock the world?
That’s the crux of Saturday’s combat between these two, as they meet once more at UFC 311 in Inglewood, Calif. — a light-weight title combat that may inform us simply as a lot about the place these fighters had been then, as the place they’re now.
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Watch UFC 311 on Sportsnet+
Islam Makhachev faces Arman Tsarukyan for the light-weight title and Merab Dvalishvili takes on Umar Nurmagomedov for the bantamweight championship. Watch UFC 311 on Saturday, Jan. 18 with prelim protection starting 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT, and the pay-per-view major card beginning at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT.
“I will probably be extra ready. Now I do know every part about what Arman can do,” Makhachev stated Wednesday on the fighters’ resort in downtown Los Angeles, conceding that Tsarukyan’s wrestling prowess stunned him of their first combat. “Possibly the primary time I used to be just a little bit underestimating — as a result of earlier than that he by no means fought within the UFC. I by no means noticed him combat. However proper now, I do know every part.”
With Makhachev, it usually appears that means. He’s extensively thought to be the game’s pound-for-pound greatest for a purpose — a tenacious, bodily power with a various skillset who’s harmful irrespective of the place a combat goes. However his secret sauce is a deep, skilled coaching camp pretty much as good as any at breaking down opponents, crafting gameplans, and neutralizing essentially the most threatening challenges any explicit matchup presents.
That feeds straight into one in every of Makhachev’s most underrated strengths — not getting hit. He’s absorbed just one.51 strikes per minute over his profession, the bottom amongst energetic lightweights by a considerable margin. And the fourth-lowest within the division’s historical past.
That’s partly as a result of Dagestani wrestler’s model, in fact. It’s arduous to hit a man who’s on prime of you driving his cranium beneath your chin. However Makhachev spent half of his final title defence on his ft with gritty striker Dustin Poirier. And a combat prior, he didn’t try a single takedown in opposition to Alexander Volkanovski, knocking the legendary featherweight out with a head kick within the first spherical.
However Tsarukyan should be essentially the most bodily, explosive athlete Makhachev’s met since he received the belt. His wrestling is unquestionable however he’s a dynamic striker on the ft, as effectively, having received every of his final two fights through knockout. His hooks are heavy; his jab’s lightning fast; he finds slight openings within the clinch for inventive uppercuts and knees (simply ask Beneil Dariush); he can goal the legs, physique, and head with a wide range of kicks from vary.
Makhachev can at all times lean again on the very fact he’s overwhelmed Tsarukyan as soon as earlier than. However the uncooked, unevolved Tsarukyan he beat five-plus years in the past isn’t the man he’ll encounter Saturday.
“It will be completely different. I improved my placing a lot. My wrestling. I’m smarter than I used to be,” Tsarukyan stated. “I’ve obtained a whole lot of completely different methods. Not only a easy, one-two, kick. Now I’ve good combos that I can throw. It will be just a little bit completely different. We will strike greater than wrestle, I really feel like.”
If that proclamation materializes, Saturday’s combat would be the antithesis to the primary time these two met for that pre-pandemic prospect conflict in St. Petersburg:
To catch that combat was to see Led Zeppelin open for The Who at a small London venue within the Sixties. Makhachev was 28; Tsarukyan, 22. Neither was ranked. Light-weight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov — now a central determine in Makhachev’s camp — was serving a suspension following a post-fight brawl between his crew and Conor McGregor’s; interim champion Dustin Poirier was nonetheless doing victory rounds following an instantaneous traditional with Max Holloway; MMA discourse was consumed with what would come subsequent for an absurdly arduous performed by Tony Ferguson.
Makhachev was a minimum of considerably recognizable by the hardest-core followers due to his ties to Nurmagomedov, however Tsarukyan was an entire unknown making his promotional debut. Many who watched the combat reside probably did so by chance, hungover, or each, flipping on the TV to discover a UFC major card starting at 10:00 a.m. ET.
However for those who occurred to catch it over lunch, you noticed a technical wrestling all-timer that raised each fighters’ shares. A fight-of-the-night barnburner of relentless grappling and floor exchanges interspersed with harmful placing flurries on the ft.
In the end, Makhachev claimed a unanimous determination due to slight edges within the first and third rounds. However Tsarukyan undeniably pushed him. And as Makhachev proceeded trucking his means by way of the light-weight division, every of his wins over increased and better ranked fighters higher aged Tsarukyan’s efficiency in St. Petersburg.
The younger Armenian went on stacking victories and performance-of-the-night bonuses himself, successful 9 of his subsequent 10 with the lone loss being a razor-thin determination to Mateusz Gamrot in a nip-and-tuck, fight-of-the-year contender. Of the 22 media members to submit their scores to MMADecisions following that combat, 15 dominated in Tsarukyan’s favour.
Nonetheless, it was a crucial inflection level for Tsarukyan, whose tempo slowed noticeably as he fought right into a fourth and fifth spherical for the primary time in his life. Power administration isn’t a brand new concern for him. After the primary Makhachev combat, Tsarukyan’s coaches lamented his tempo within the early going and eventual abandonment of the crew’s sport plan, as a substitute persevering with to have interaction on the mat with the most effective grapplers within the sport.
Tsarukyan doesn’t cover from that. He’s admittedly a cussed man. However he additionally is aware of Saturday should be completely different.
“Yeah, this time I will hearken to my nook,” he stated. “To get the belt, I’ve obtained to hearken to my nook. I’ve a sport plan and I’ve obtained to maintain listening.”
As Makhachev started his light-weight title reign late in 2022, Tsarukyan compelled his means into the division’s top-five with legitimizing wins over perennial contender Dariush, who he knocked out in simply over a minute, and Charles Oliveira, a dwelling legend nonetheless on the prime of his sport.
Now, the Oliveira win was a cut up determination and a troublesome combat to attain as a result of over two-thirds of it befell on the mat. Tsarukyan landed extra strikes and had extra floor management, but Oliveira almost completed the combat twice with submissions. If ever there was an undercard bout that wanted championship rounds, that was it.
Both means, it wasn’t precisely a dominant efficiency. Which is why Tsarukyan is getting into Saturday starting from a +260 to +320 underdog. He nonetheless has a lot to show. Tsarukyan’s 2023 knockouts of Joaquin Silva and Dariush had been decisive. However these aren’t names usually talked about in the identical breath as Makhachev’s.
And when Tsarukyan met Makhachev — who was battling meals poisoning and almost pulled out on combat evening — he misplaced. Naturally, there’s no assure that the primary combat will inform this one. It was over a half-decade in the past and each fighters have developed significantly since. However, based mostly on the present proof, it’s nonetheless simpler to construct a case for Makhachev to have his hand raised on Saturday than it’s for Tsaukyan.
“He is improved so much. He is modified his sport. He’s began to do very effectively with the Muay Thai clinch, he’ll throw his knees. He has a really sensible sport. He does not waste his power. He does not do so much, but it surely’s sufficient to win,” Tsarukyan stated of Makhachev. “And he is in his prime proper now. He is 33 years previous and he is obtained a whole lot of expertise. He is had a whole lot of title defences. However I believe I am in my prime as effectively and I am able to beat him.”
Now, regardless of his opponent’s credentials, it’s not inconceivable to examine Tsarukyan taking Makhachev down — if something, we should anticipate it. He’s averaged 3.25 takedowns per quarter-hour over his profession. He took down Charles Oliveira of all folks. He landed one on Makhachev the primary time they fought. Is he actually going to spend 5 rounds avoiding one in every of his largest strengths?
However Tsarukyan’s largest problem on the mat has been placing the steadiness between controlling his opponent and touchdown damaging ground-and-pound. Oliveira was calmly capable of neutralize Tsarukyan’s capability to do injury when he was on prime. A wrestler as proficient as Makhachev is unlikely to make that any simpler for him.
And, if something, Tsarukyan might want to prioritize management much more if he positive aspects an advantageous place on the mat as a result of Makhachev is a big, robust light-weight with a collection of methods he can make the most of to flip momentum in a heartbeat from varied positions.
Makhachev says he walks round at 180 kilos and an attention-grabbing wrinkle of this combat’s location is that the California State Athletic Fee data and releases combat evening weights for all athletes. We’ve all seen Makhachev throughout combat weeks. You’ve seen zombies extra energetic. It received’t be a shock to be taught subsequent week that Makhachev was the heavier man on combat evening.
Not solely that, however Makhachev’s a hazard to threaten submissions from anyplace which was a helpful tactic for Oliveira in opposition to Tsarukyan. And Makhachev’s the man who arm-triangled Oliveira out of nowhere after they fought in 2022.
That stated, Tsarukyan’s equalizer might be his kicking sport. The offence in a few of his higher performances has been constructed upon a flurry of kicks from vary, and whereas Makhachev could be very adept at avoiding vital head strikes, he’s extra hittable to the physique and legs.
Volkanovski tried to use that tendency in his first combat with Makhachev, concentrating on the entrance leg and ceaselessly going to the physique. Makhachev, then again, hasn’t performed a lot leg kicking in latest fights, as a substitute sitting again and ready to counter. You must be extraordinarily nitpicky to poke holes in Makhachev’s sport, but it surely seems a gap is there if Tsarukyan can quantity kick from the centre of the octagon.
After all, as a way to kick, you should be on one leg. And that’s when your steadiness is most compromised, making you vulnerable to takedowns. If Makhachev can time Tsarukyan’s kicks, a takedown should be there. Nobody shoots faster — like he’s blasted from a cannon — than Makhachev diving for a single- or double-leg. And if Makhachev can funnel Tsarukyan’s again to the fence? Overlook about it. After all, good luck discovering a second in a Tsarukyan combat when he allowed himself to be put in that place for greater than a heartbeat.
Maybe you’re getting a way of why this matchup’s so compelling. Kinds make fights, and these two versatile talent units had been virtually made for one another. Excessive stakes, excessive IQs and a excessive diploma of hazard in each instructions. It received’t take a lot of a mistake for both fighter to current the opening the opposite wants. What we didn’t know after they first fought was that we had been watching a preview of what MMA would appear to be sooner or later. Saturday, we get one other probability to see what it seems like now.
“I can let you know proper now it will be the most effective fights in light-weight division,” Tsarukyan stated. “Our combat was virtually six years in the past and all people nonetheless talks about that combat. I can’t think about what occurs this Saturday after now we have improved a lot. This time goes to be the identical. Individuals are going to speak about this combat for the subsequent ten years, as effectively.”
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