5 reasons why Arman Tsarukyan is the dark horse title contender in the UFC lightweight division

#2. Arman Tsarukyan already pushed Islam Makhachev to the limit

Arman Tsarukyan pushed Islam Makhachev to the limit in their 2019 clash

Islam Makhachev is currently the hottest fighter in the UFC’s lightweight division, with many fans expecting his dominating, bullying grappling style to overcome either Charles Oliveira or Justin Gaethje to win him the title.

Given his incredible streak, then, it’s worth noting that the last fighter to really push him inside the octagon was Arman Tsarukyan.

The two fighters met in St. Petersburg back in April 2019, in what was Tsarukyan’s octagon debut. While the Armenian came off on the wrong end of a unanimous decision, the fight was excellent and featured a number of high-level wrestling exchanges.

In fact, despite being just 22 years old at the time, Tsarukyan was even able to take Makhachev down, something that no other fighter had done to that point and only one more has done since.

It was clear from that fight that Tsarukyan had the raw ability to reach the top, but when you consider what Makhachev has done since, his performance in this bout seems even more impressive.

Essentially, Tsarukyan was able to do what the likes of Dan Hooker and Drew Dober were not – push Makhachev to the limit. That alone bodes well for him as a dark horse title contender.

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#1. Arman Tsarukyan is becoming more aggressive with each fight

Arman Tsarukyan has upped the aggression in his most recent bouts

Any fighter who can put together a lengthy run of victories inside the octagon tends to climb into title contention at some point. However, the difference in them doing it sooner rather than later tends to be their style of fighting.

If a fighter wins, but tends to go the distance a lot and fails to produce a number of highlight reel finishes, then it’s much less likely that the UFC will get behind them and push them as a star – or into a title bout.

However, if they produce thrilling finishes, then they’re likely to make a much more rapid ascent to the top, like Khamzat Chimaev seems to be doing right now, for instance.

Early in his UFC career, it looked like Arman Tsarukyan would fall more into the former category, particularly as his style seemed heavy on wrestling in his decision wins over Olivier Aubin-Mercier and Davi Ramos.

However, in his more recent fights, Tsarukyan has shown far more aggression and has used his striking skills to much better effect.

He brutally knocked out Christos Giagos on the feet and then used some seriously nasty elbows on the ground to take out Joel Alvarez this past weekend.

Given that he’s now started reeling off some nasty finishes, fans should expect the UFC to get behind Tsarukyan with quite a heavy push, making him the dark horse contender at 155 pounds.