Coach details severity of Arman Tsarukyan’s grueling back injury: ‘He couldn’t even sit up’ | UFC 311

It was going to take something serious to knock Arman Tsarukyan out of his lightweight title fight opposite current champion Islam Makhachev later tonight (Sat., Jan. 18, 2025) at UFC 311 live on ESPN+ pay-per-view (PPV) from inside Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, Calif., but that’s exactly what happened during his last sparring session.

Tsarukyan, who is coming off back-to-back wins over Beneil Dariush and Charles Oliveira to push his current UFC win streak to four, undoubtedly earned his rematch with Makhachev. The 28-year-old contender looked primed to give the champion a real run for his money, but an unfortunate back injury during the final week of training knocked Tsarukyan out of UFC 311’s main event.

UFC CEO Dana White announced Tsarukyan’s official withdrawal on Friday and pegged Renato Moicano as his replacement.

At first, fight fans didn’t know the severity of Tsarukyan’s injury. Tsarukyan said he had to make the “hardest decision I’ve ever had to make in my fighting career,” but exactly how bad was he hurt? On Friday, MMA Junkie caught up with Tsarukyan’s coach, “Parrumpa,” to get the finer details of his fighter’s injury.

“The last sparring session he tweaked his back a little bit,” he said. “It wasn’t too bad. We thought it’s just the end of the camp. The body’s feeling it. And then he took a few days off. He was fine. And then we start fight week and everything was going great. The spasm, the pain was there, but he was powering through it. He never thought about not fighting. Never. He did so much for this camp.

“On Wednesday night after the last training he was complaining a little more. This guy doesn’t complain. He’s not a guy that keeps complaining about every single pain in his body. 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 why this back pain arouse because the weight was going down.

“Thursday we went to the press conference and after the press conference he had to go see a doctor. He still wanted to fight. Still wanted to power through it. We started the weight cut and then a few sessions in on the weight cut he couldn’t do it anymore. He couldn’t even stand. He couldn’t even sit up. He had to stay laying on a bed.”

If Tsarukyan is able to heal up fast should he get another UFC title shot upon his return or is it back of the line for the Armenian contender?

Let us know!

LIVE! Watch UFC 311 PPV On ESPN+ Here!

LIGHTWEIGHT REMATCH! Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) kicks off its 2025 pay-per-view (PPV) schedule on Sat., Jan. 18, with its seemingly-unstoppable lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev, defending his 155-pound crown against late replacement, Renato Moicano, in the five-round main event. In UFC 311’s championship co-headliner from inside Intuit Dome in Inglewood (Los Angeles), Calif., undefeated 135-pound contender, Umar Nurmagomedov, challenges newly-minted bantamweight titleholder, Merab Dvalishvili, for the undisputed crown. UFC 311 will also feature the exciting returns of former light heavyweight champions Jiri Prochazka and Jamahal Hill, as well as the pivotal middleweight showdown between Kevin Holland and Reinier De Ridder, and so much more! UFC 311’s start time is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET (Preliminary card) and 10 p.m. ET (PPV main card).

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MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 311 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the early Disney+/FX/ESPN+ preliminary card matches at 6 p.m. ET, followed by the remaining four-fight undercard balance on Disney+/ESPNN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the UFC 311 PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 311: “Makhachev vs. Moicano” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here. For the updated and finalized UFC 311 fight card and PPV lineup click here.