What’s Next For Arman Tsarukyan?

UFC Vegas 57 went down last Saturday night (June 25, 2022) from inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada featuring a thrilling night of fights. Plenty of fighters were sent home feeling the post-fight blues, including Tafon Nchukwi, who was stopped by Carlos Ulberg in just 75 seconds.

Also, Neil Magny got a first-hand encounter of the phenom that is Shavkat Rakhmonov, who dominated him with ease before sinking in an air-tight guillotine choke (see it again here). But which fighter is suffering from the worst post-fight hangover, now a few days removed from show?

Arman Tsarukyan.

Coming into his showdown against Mateusz Gamrot, Tsarukyan was in search of his sixth straight win to potentially crack the Top 10. With his lone loss coming against top contender Islam Makhachev, Tsarukyan had already garnered some attention as legit future title contender. Gamrot, however, was receiving similar praise, so something had to give.

Once the fight started, both men came out aggressive and what ensued was an all-out technical war for the ages between two young up-and-comers ready to make their imprint on a stacked Lightweight division. Both men showed their well-rounded arsenal, scoring points throughout, and wowing fans and colleagues in the process.

Unfortunately, one man’s momentum had to come to an end and much to his disapproval, it was Tsarukyan who came up shorts on all of the judges’ scorecards. While it was a tough, close defeat that could have gone the other way, it wasn’t a clear-cut robbery, despite what many irate fans (and Tsarukyan) were screaming after the fight.

“I don’t know but I thought I won this fight,” Tsarukyan said during his post-fight interview. “I thought I won three rounds. I don’t know what happened with the judges.

“I’m going to watch again my fight and I can understand better. It’s OK, I’m going to [make] mistakes. I’ll come back, I’m very young. I can’t lose because I know I am better.”

The bright side for Tsarukyan is that he is still just 25 years of age and hasn’t even scratched the surface as to how great he can truly be. And that’s not necessarily a good thing for the rest of the 155-pound contenders. He showed that he has all of the talent in the world to make it to a title fight one day, and since he has youth on his side, he is bound to get there, though his road has been delayed a bit longer.

As far as what’s next for him, perhaps a showdown against the loser of the upcoming fight between Rafael dos Anjos and Rafael Fiziev is in order. I really like the idea of Gamrot facing the winner, so why not let Tsarukyan get the loser? Either man would be a great stylistic matchup for Tsarukyan, and a win over either one would get him back into the mix.

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For complete UFC Vegas 57 results and highlights click here.