"He gave Islam Makhachev a run for his money" - Arman Tsarukyan's teammate weighs in on UFC 311 lightweight title clash

Arman Tsarukyan and Islam Makhachev are fast approaching their high-stakes rematch, with a training partner of the former offering up his thoughts on this sequel clash. Tsarukyan vs. Makhachev II goes down on Jan. 18 at UFC 311 with Makhachev having a chance to make a historic fourth straight defense of the 155-pound crown while Tsarukyan has an opportunity to tie up their series.

Appearing on a recent episode of Bowks Talking Bouts, Kyoji Horiguchi discussed several subjects before his RFF flyweight title defense against EFC champion Nkazimulo Zulu at Rizin Decade on Dec. 31. Both Horiguchi as well as Tsarukyan are affiliated with American Top Team.

When offering up his thoughts on the looming lightweight title bid for his ATT compatriot, Horiguchi said,

"Yeah, I think it's going to be a very tough fight. The first fight Arman [Tsarukyan] lost, but he gave [Islam] Makhachev a run for his money. It was a good fight. It was a good back and forth fight.

"But you know, I think now that this fight again; the second fight has been booked, I think it's going to be a very similar fight. It's going to be very close, it's going to be very gritty, and I think they're going to show us a really fantastic fight."

Check Horiguchi's thoughts on the UFC 311 main event [at the 10:19 mark] below:

---

Arman Tsarukyan feels Makhachev is not as good as people think

Arman Tsarukyan seems to find Islam Makhachev to be a bit overrated despite the historical significance of his lightweight title reign and many seeing him as the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the sport today.

During an interview with ESPN ahead of UFC 311, Tsarukyan mentioned how some seem to think Makhachev is unbeatable. He referenced how people have this idea that the UFC lightweight champion has brilliant wrestling.

But the lightweight title challenger seemed to refute this a bit by mentioning how he had taken Makhachev down when he was 22 years old. Arman Tsarukyan was making reference to their first fight which transpired in Apr. 2019 and was a short-notice affair for Tsarukyan who was also making his promotional debut.

While the native of Georgia would lose on points to Makhachev, it was a competitive affair that left many with the impression we would invariably see a rematch between them.