Arman Tsarukyan looked up to Khabib Nurmagomedov during his rise in MMA.
Like Nurmagomedov (29-0 MMA, 13-0 UFC), Tsarukyan is known for his elite grappling. Nurmagomedov retired as an undefeated UFC lightweight champion and is widely considered as the most dominant fighter of all time.
Tsarukyan (23-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) is still in his pursuit of gold, and was scheduled to challenge Nurmagomedov’s protege, Islam Makhachev, for the lightweight title at UFC 311 in January before withdrawing the day before due to a back injury.
“I’ve got a lot of favorite fighters that I watch their fights always to see how they move, how they wrestle,” Tsarukyan said on the “Out Cold” podcast. “But if we say who inspired me when I was young, it was Khabib because he is from Russia and I’m from Russia, as well. I live there. When I started training MMA, he was a goal for us. He wasn’t the champ at that moment, but he was so famous.”
When former featherweight champion Ilia Topuria was campaigning to fight Makhachev for the lightweight title, Nurmagomedov said he saw Tsarukyan as a sterner test to prep for. Makhachev has since relinquished his 155-pound title to go after the welterweight title.
