Arman Tsarukyan just made a strong case for a rematch against reigning Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight king, Islam Makhachev. This could be happening in the near future.
Tsarukyan, an American Top Team product, dispatched Beneil Dariush in just 64 seconds. This happened in the opening round of their headlining clash at UFC on ESPN 52 at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas. It was on a Saturday night.
The Russian contender has won his last three in the Octagon. He is 8-2 in UFC competition overall. This makes him an opponent few will want to face in the coming months.
Makhachev, who defeated Tsarukyan via decision in the latter’s promotional debut at UFC Fight Night 149 in April 2019, could be included.
Let’s take a by-the-numbers look at UFC on ESPN 52, with statistics courtesy of UFCStats.com. Tsarukyan landed eight significant strikes. This is the fewest he has landed in victory in any of his 10 UFC appearances. Included in that total is a knockdown, which occurred when Tsarukyan landed a right hand directly behind a knee to set the stage for the finish.
The combined time of Dariush’s last two UFC appearances, KO/TKO losses to Tsarukyan and Charles Oliveira, was 5:14. Those two setbacks were preceded by an eight-bout winning streak that had Dariush among the lightweight division’s top contenders. Dariush has suffered five KO/TKO losses over the course of his professional career.
Jalin Turner, who earned his 10th career KO/TKO win with a first-round stoppage of Bobby Green in the UFC on ESPN 52 co-main event, has 14 finishes among 14 professional victories. Eleven of Turner’s triumphs have come inside of a round.
Turner landed 15 significant ground strikes, all during a controversial finishing salvo where it appeared Green was out on more than one occasion. Turner, who floored Green before the bout’s final sequence, has six career knockdowns in 11 UFC appearances.
Deiveson Figueiredo landed four takedowns in seven attempts in a unanimous decision triumph against Rob Font in his bantamweight debut. That’s a UFC career high for the former flyweight king, whose previous best of two occurred on six different occasions.
Font surrendered 11 takedowns in his last two Octagon appearances, losses to Figueiredo and Sandhagen. Font was competitive in exchanges against Figueiredo, holding a 46-to-45 edge in significant strikes landed.
Sean Brady attempted three submissions in a victory over Kelvin Gastelum at welterweight. The last of those proved to be the fight’s decisive maneuver, as Brady tapped his opponent with a kimura at the 1:43 mark of Round 3. Brady was also successful on all five of his takedown attempts while logging 9:06 of control time.
It has been 2,702 days since Gastelum’s appearance at welterweight, when he took a decision win over Johny Hendricks at UFC 200. “The Ultimate Fighter 17” winner went 5-6 with one no contest at middleweight before returning to 170 pounds to face Brady.
Joaquim Silva attempted nine takedowns in 11 attempts in a three-round verdict over Clay Guida in a featured lightweight tilt. “Netto BJJ” also landed 50% (46 of 91) of his significant strikes, secured two takedowns of his own and attempted two submissions in victory.
Guida has made 36 Octagon appearances, the fourth most in UFC history behind only Donald Cerrone (38), Andrei Arlovski (40) and Jim Miller (42). Guida has suffered 18 defeats in UFC competition, tying him with Jeremy Stephens for most in promotion history.
It has been 2,828 days since Miesha Tate’s last submission victory, a fifth-round rear-naked choke against Holly Holm in a bantamweight title bout at UFC 196 on March 5, 2016. Tate used a face crank to elicit a tap from Julia Avila 1:15 into the third frame of their bout at UFC Austin on Saturday night.
Tate has seven UFC bantamweight wins, tying her with multiple others for the fourth most in the history of the division. Only Amanda Nunes (13), Raquel Pennington (11) and Ketlen Vieira (eight) have won more in the weight class. Tate became the 35th woman to win at least seven fights in UFC competition.
Tate landed a total of 127 strikes. By comparison, Avila landed 11. Tate also held a 32-to-3 advantage in significant strikes landed.
Tate enjoyed 10:55 of total control time during a bout that lasted 11:15. “Cupcake” was also successful on four of her five takedown attempts. Tate’s four takedowns were her most since she landed four on Marloes Coenen in a fight under the Strikeforce banner in July 2011.
There have been 14 slam knockouts in UFC history. Drakkar Klose joined this group when he slammed his way out of a Joe Solecki armbar attempt in their preliminary lightweight clash to render his foe unconscious at the 1:41 mark of Round 1. One bout later, Cody Brundage slammed his way out of a Zachary Reese triangle attempt, ending the contest with a few follow-up punches 1:49 into the opening stanza.
This was the first occasion in UFC history where two fights on the same card ended via slam knockout. Klose and Brundage made history with their back-to-back efforts on the UFC Austin preliminary draw.
Rodolfo Bellato and Ihor Potieria landed a combined 98 significant strikes during the second round of their light heavyweight slugfest. Potieria had his foe reeling early in the frame before Bellato rallied to finish the Ukrainian with a barrage of ground-and-pound at the 4:17 mark of Round 2. Overall, Bellator held an 80-to-73 advantage in significant strikes landed.
Bellato landed 51 significant ground strikes in Round 2. By comparison, Potieria landed 23.