5 best moments from UFC Fight Night: Beneil Dariush vs. Arman Tsarukyan

The UFC’s first show of December went down in Austin, Texas, Saturday night, and it was definitely fun to watch.

With a number of extremely violent finishes and star-making performances, UFC Fight Night: Beneil Dariush vs. Arman Tsarukyan was outstanding overall. So with a total of nine fights ending with stoppages, what were the most outstanding moments overall? Unsurprisingly, there were plenty to pick from.

Here are the five best moments from UFC Fight Night: Beneil Dariush vs. Arman Tsarukyan.

---

#5. Rodolfo Bellato produces a tremendous comeback in his UFC debut

Brazilian debutant Rodolfo Bellato didn’t have too much hype around him coming into his UFC debut against Ihor Potieria, but plenty of people will be talking about him after his performance.

‘Trator’ produced one of the best comebacks seen in the octagon in a long time to take out his Ukrainian foe, and won an extra $50k in the process.

The first round saw Bellato wobbled by ‘The Duelist’, but the second was even worse for him. Potieria floored the Brazilian with a combination and looked set to put him away with a barrage from the top.

However, Bellato somehow managed to survive, and remarkably, escaped to his feet. With Potieira then looking exhausted, ‘Trator’ landed a takedown, passed to full mount, and put him away with a series of violent punches of his own.

Bellato will obviously need to tighten his defenses if he wants to climb to the top of the mountain, but for now, this was a stirring debut that was definitely one of last night’s best moments.

---

#4. Miesha Tate rolls back the years for her first win since 2021

Given her undeniable star quality, it was weird to see Miesha Tate buried on the preliminary card last night for her bout with Julia Avila.

In some ways, though, it made sense. ‘Cupcake’ had not won a fight since 2021 and had lost back-to-back bouts with Ketlen Vieira and Lauren Murphy. It was beginning to look like her return from retirement was a mistake.

However, Tate rolled back the clock last night, producing not only a great performance, but her first finish since her 2016 submission of Holly Holm.

Avila simply couldn’t stop Tate’s takedown, and on the ground, ‘Cupcake’ had no issues in easily dominating her. Once she took the back in the third round, it was all over, as the former bantamweight champ applied a simple beck crank for the tapout.

Tate isn’t likely to climb back into title contention any time soon, but this win showed she’s still got at least something left in the tank, and it also earned her a nice $50k bonus, too.

---

#3. Jalin Turner’s big risk pays off with his win over Bobby Green

Given his previous struggles to even make the 156-pound lightweight limit, Jalin Turner seemed to be taking a big risk by agreeing to fight Bobby Green on late notice last night.

‘The Tarantula’ even seemed to allude that he’d been almost forced to accept the fight in an interview last week, something that didn’t seem to bode well for his chances.

However, when it came to fight time, Turner produced the goods. Seemingly far quicker and more accurate than 'King', he needed just under three minutes to take him out.

A big right hand did most of the damage, dropping the veteran.Realistically, the fight should’ve been stopped there. However, referee Kerry Hatley did an appalling job and allowed Green to take far too much punishment before stepping in.

That black mark can’t be held against Turner, though, and ‘The Tarantula’ received a well-earned bonus $50k for his work. He’s probably in the UFC’s good books too, which is never a bad thing. Despite the bad stoppage, this was definitely one of the best moments of the night.

---

#2. Drakkar Klose and Cody Brundage produce back-to-back slam knockouts

Knockouts via slam are always a rarity in the UFC, even with the insane amount of events produced by the promotion these days. That’s why it was so jaw-dropping to see two slam stoppages come back-to-back on Saturday night’s preliminary card.

First, lightweight veteran Drakkar Klose stunned Joe Solecki by dumping him onto the side of his head to escape an armbar attempt in the first round.

Then, middleweight Cody Brundage dispatched newcomer Zach Reese in the same way, dumping him to the ground before finishing him with punches after defending a triangle choke attempt.

Sure, slamming out of a submission attempt remains a remarkably high-risk approach – it usually ends with the submission being cranked deeper – and it’s unlikely that last night’s event will set a new trend.

However, the back-to-back finishes definitely made for a memorable highlight, and clearly stand as one of the best moments of the show overall.

---

#1. Arman Tsarukyan melts Beneil Dariush to become a genuine UFC lightweight title contender

The headline bout between Beneil Dariush and Arman Tsarukyan always seemed destined to produce a UFC lightweight title contender, whether that was Dariush getting back to form or Tsarukyan picking up his biggest win to date.

In the end, the latter result happened, but very few observers would’ve expected it to go down the way that it did. Tsarukyan needed just one minute to utterly melt Dariush, and it’s easy to imagine him capturing a title shot in the near future now.

Dariush looked to start quickly with some nasty kicks, but before he could get out of first gear, the fight was over. A big knee from Tsarukyan missed its intended target, but a follow-up right hook did not, starching the Iranian-born American veteran and making the Armenian’s following punches largely academic.

Given Dariush was ranked at No.4 in the division prior to this, it’s likely that Tsarukyan will leapfrog him, and that means a title eliminator should be in his sights next.

Could we see him rematch Islam Makhachev with the UFC title on the line? Who knows, but this brutal finish was definitely the best moment from last night’s event.