For those who’ve been paying attention and reading between the MMA lines, it hasn’t been hard to see a rift between one of the UFC’s top lightweights and the promotion.
Arman Tsarukyan was supposed to fight for the title a little more than a year ago at UFC 311. He pulled out just ahead of the weigh-ins, which gave his title shot to Renato Moicano against then-champ Islam Makhachev.
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Once healthy, Tsarukyan (23-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) figured he’d step right back into a title shot. Instead, he had to fight Dan Hooker this past fall, a fight he won dominantly. But now he has to wait again for new interim champ Justin Gaethje (27-5 MMA, 10-5 UFC) and a title-unification bout with champ Ilia Topuria (17-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC).
Tsarukyan has a five-fight winning streak and hasn’t lost in nearly four years. But that aforementioned rift between the UFC and Tsarukyan is perhaps on display by virtue of the promotion choosing to post a free fight video of Tsarukyan – and the most recent time he lost.
Above, check out the Fight of the Night winner at UFC on ESPN 38 in Las Vegas. In the June 2022 headliner, Gamrot outworked Tsarukyan for a unanimous decision with a trio of 48-47 scores. Since that win, Gamrot has gone just 4-3 and isn’t currently in the title mix at 155 pounds.
Still, one of his three Fight of the Night wins in the UFC is being pushed this week – so is it just a coincidence it happens to be Tsarukyan’s most recent loss?
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Full fight video: UFC gives Arman Tsarukyan’s last loss a rerelease
