Renowned MMA fighter Arman Tsarukyan has shared details about the injury that forced him to pull out of the scheduled title fight against Russian fighter Islam Makhachev.
“Everything was fine, but on the last day, after training, I went to bed and started feeling pain in the lower part of my back. Because of this, I couldn’t sleep the entire night. The next day, I thought everything would be okay, and after the press conference, I started cutting weight. I was training on the bike when my back seized up—I couldn’t move,” Tsarukyan told insider Ariel Helwani, as reported by Auroranews.am .
Tsarukyan had to withdraw from the anticipated matchup, and instead, Brazilian fighter Renato Moicano faced Islam Makhachev. The Russian fighter successfully defended his title.
The rematch between the two fighters was scheduled to take place in Los Angeles. Their first fight was in April 2019 in St. Petersburg, where Makhachev defeated Tsarukyan.
The 28-year-old Arman Tsarukyan has competed in 25 professional fights, winning 22 of them.