Islam Makhachev fires back at Arman Tsarukyan’s bold claim ahead of UFC 311: "I will make him never talk about me again"

Islam Makhachev recently debunked Arman Tsarukyan's narrative about his prowess inside the octagon, intending to take a drastic step to change Tsarukyan's opinion forever.

Makhachev is in the final week before his UFC 311 headliner against Arman Tsarukyan. The encounter is going to be Makhachev's fourth title defense fight with his last victory coming against Dustin Poirier at UFC 302.

Poirier did a good job of defending Makhachev's takedowns throughout four rounds of the fight. He also landed a vicious elbow that cut Makhachev's forehead open in the fourth round. However, the Dagestani eventually secured a D'Arce choke and made his rival tap out in the final round.

However, Tsarukyan wasn't impressed with Makhachev's UFC 302 performance. In the recently released UFC 311 Countdown video, Tsarukyan mentioned that he would've beaten Makhachev if he was his rival at UFC 302, instead of Poirier. An X update from @ChampRDS showcased what Tsarukyan said about his upcoming rival.

"Islam's not gonna be difficult for me because I know how I can beat him. Islam vs. Poirier, he looked so bad… If I was [fighting him] instead of Poirier, I could beat him."

Makhachev had a quite yet savage reply for his adversary, intending to teach Tsarukyan a lesson that would stitch his running mouth :

"Arman talks too much. January 18th, I will make him never talk about me again."

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Islam Makhachev and Arman Tsarukyan's common rival gives prediction for their UFC 311 encounter

Islam Makhachev locked horns with Charles Oliveira at UFC 280 with the vacant UFC lightweight gold on the line. Makhachev earned a submission victory in the fight earning himself the divisional gold, which he has been holding to date.

Arman Tsarukyan also took on Oliveira in his last encounter at UFC 300 and earned a split-decision victory against him. Being a common opponent of both Makhachev and Tsarukyan, Oliveira possesses an in-depth knowledge of the fighting styles of these two lightweights.

In a recent interview with @ManoukAkopyan, the Brazilian predicted that both Makhachev and Tsarukyan have equal chances of getting their hand raised after the UFC 311 main event. However, he also stressed the improvement in Makhachev's stand-up game and mentioned it could become a determining factor in the fight. Oliveira said:

"It's not even that I'm 50-50, you know? I just think that they're both really great, amazing fighters and, you know, my point is that Islam has improved a lot in the standup. You know, you can look at their first fight and there's a lot of grappling, but I feel like Islam has improved a lot in the standup so I feel like that can make a difference. [translated from Portuguese]"