UFC lightweight star Arman Tsarukyan recently found himself in the spotlight for unfortunate reasons. Last week, he was forced to withdraw from the UFC 311 main event against Islam Makhachev in what was the fight of his life. After all, one does not get to challenge for the undisputed UFC gold every day. A back injury occurred, which many speculate stemmed from an intense exercise session with MMA media personality Nina Marie Danielle during an interview. In the session, Tsarukyan demonstrated some uncanny wrestling and stretching drills, which appeared to strain his backbone and neck.
Within the week, his health began to decline, leading to his withdrawal from the fight. This sparked criticism, with some fans accusing Tsarukyan of being too clever during the interview. However, in a recent appearance on Ariel Helwani’s show, Tsarukyan cleared the air regarding both the injury and his interaction with Nina Marie Danielle. He explained, “No, that thing I’m doing every day as part of my warm-up, so if I had a problem during training camp, how could I do this exercise? You know, I didn’t feel anything; I was good and ready. I was training very hard, and during the week, I had good energy and no problems. It just happened, you know.”
Arman Tsarukyan denies the rumors about him injuring his back during Nina Drama interview:
“I’m doing that everyday for my warm up. If I had a problem during training camp then how can I do this exercise?”
@arielhelwani
— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) January 20, 2025
The Armenian also pointed to weight cutting and dehydration as factors contributing to the injury and back pain. He added, “When I started cutting weight, it’s because of dehydration. How do you say it? Dehydrated—maybe because of that, it happened as well.” Tsarukyan concluded.
The post Arman Tsarukyan Sets It Straight on Nina Drama’s Involvement in Injury Forcing Him to Pull Out of UFC 311 Islam Makhachev Fight appeared first on EssentiallySports.
