Late last night, around 24 hours before the first Pay-Per-View of 2025, Dana White announced that UFC 311 in Los Angeles was getting a new main event title fight.
Lightweight champion Islam Makhachev retained his spot as one-half of the headlining attraction, with the pound-for-pound king now set to face popular contender Renato Moicano.
The re-scheduled title fight comes on the heels of Arman Tsarukyan withdrawing from UFC 311 with an injury, with his head coach now explaining exactly what went wrong for ‘Ahalkalakets’.
Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Whilst Arman Tsarukyan has broken his silence regarding his withdrawal, the surging Armenian failed to disclose many details of what happened in the past few hours.
Step in coach Marcos DaMatta, who explained to MMA Junkie that Arman Tsarukyan began suffering from spasms and pain in his back; starting as early as last Tuesday.
“It wasn’t too bad, and we just thought it was because it’s the end of camp and the body is feeling it a little bit. He took a few days off and he was fine.
“Then we started fight week, everything was going great – the spasm and the pain was there, but he was powering through it, he never thought about not fighting, never.”
DaMatta stated that throughout fight week, Tsarukyan was focused on fighting Islam Makhachev on Saturday evening; however, things took a turn for the worst as they began cutting weight.
“But then on Wednesday night after the last training, he was really complaining a little more and this guy doesn’t complain, he’s not a guy who complains about every little pain in his body, he never does.
“So, when he did complain on Wednesday night, we had to listen to him. His weight was going down a little bit, he was really good on weight so that’s one of the reasons that this back pain aroused, because the weight was going down.”
Tsarukyan went straight to see a doctor after attending the pre-fight press conference on Thursday, with both the back spasms and pain getting steadily worse with each pound he cut.
“He still wanted to fight and power through it, we started the weight cut and then a few sessions in, he couldn’t do it anymore. That’s when Hunter and ‘Doctor D’ had to come into the house to talk about it.
“Unfortunately, he made the decision that it was wise not to fight because he couldn’t even stand, he couldn’t even sit up – you know he had to be staying on the bed.”
According to DaMatta, Tsarukyan remains “really down and devastated” about the situation, although still at only 28-years-old, there’s more than enough time to him to regain another title shot.
“He’s still young in this sport and young in life, he still has a lot of opportunities to fight for titles again and again, his health is more important than anything,” stated the coach, adding, “I think he should be fine in a few weeks.”
One man who agrees with that sentiment is the man who was meant to be in the opposing corner: with Khabib Nurmagomedov sending a heartfelt message of support to Tsarukyan over the injury.
“Honestly it can happen with anybody. In March 2017, it happened with me too… It was the same with me. I just want to wish him all the best. He’s young, tough, he can come back. He’ll have to survive this situation and come back.”
UFC 311: Makhachev vs Moicano, goes down on Saturday, January 18 live from LA.
Arman TsarukyanIslam MakhachevLightweightUFC 311
