Why did Arman Tsarukyan pull out of Islam Makhachev fight at UFC 311? Reason behind the Armenian's withdrawal explained

Bad luck has befallen UFC 311 this weekend as Arman Tsarukyan pulled out of his bout with Islam Makhachev for the UFC lightweight title. The unfortunate news has been reported by multiple media outlets and confirmed by UFC president Dana White himself.

The unfortunate decision to remove himself from the contest was made just hours before Tsarukyan was supposed to step on the scales for the weigh-in. Dana White released a video online to address the pull-out and the subsequent replacement fighter:

"I just got a call from Arman Tsarukyan and he let us know that he's experiencing significant back pain and felt that he was not healthy enough to compete. So he's out of the fight. So stepping in to face Islam Makhachev for the title, Renato Moicano has been on a tear, is moving up to 155 pounds and he has the longest active win streak amongst all fighters in the top 10 in the lightweight division."

A rather intriguing match-up, to say the least. Ever since Moicano proclaimed himself as 'Money Moicano', he's been on a tear both on social media and inside the octagon. It can be argued that with him stepping in to replace Tsarukyan, the star power of UFC 311's main event might have just gotten elevated.

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Arman Tsarukyan's brother, Artur Tsarukyan, shed more light on the Armenian fighter's injury

On the Armenian fighter's injury, his brother, Artur Tsarukyan, shed more light on the events that led to his back problems. As it turned out, the injury occurred late into Tsarukyan's fight preparations for UFC 311.

Artur Tsarukyan wrote in his Instagram stories:

“Unfortunately, we withdrew from the fight due to Arman's injury, which he received during the cutting of the last kilograms, due to which we made a difficult decision for all of us. Once again, we apologize to all fans of martial arts. For us, this was more than just a fight.”

Very little is known about the exact nature of the back injury. In his UFC tenure, Arman Tsarukyan has never pulled out of any bout. His three cancelled bouts in the promotion were scrapped due to either his opponents getting injured or other unfortunate circumstances that have been out of his control.

Interestingly, one of those opponents who pulled out of their fight against Arman Tsarukyan is the same man replacing him this weekend, Renato Moicano.