Ex-UFC Star Laughs at Arman Tsarukyan, Claims He Hurt His Back Trying to Impress Nina Marie Daniele

Was Arman Tsarukyan trying to impress Nina Marie Danielle? And did that effort backfire? According to former UFC fighter Derek Brunson, it did. At least, that’s the hilarious narrative he’s endorsing.

As part of her duties as an MMA influencer, Daniele visited Tsarukyan’s gym to learn a thing or two from the lightweight contender.  Tsarukyan demonstrated some wild exercises for her, including an eye-popping neck move where he used his entire body weight to pivot on his neck. It looked like something straight out of a contortionist act.

Fast forward to Saturday, when news broke that he had to pull out of his highly anticipated rematch against Islam Makhachev at UFC 311 due to a back injury, Brunson couldn’t resist connecting the dots in the funniest way possible.

“The way I just laughed thinking about how Arman Tsarukyan threw his back out trying to impress Nina Drama #UFC311.”

While it’s highly unlikely that Tsarukyan’s injury was actually caused by showing off for Daniele, Brunson’s comment has fans buzzing online. Some have even joined in by sharing memes of their own.

Tsarukyan, known for his athleticism and creative training methods, is probably taking the jokes in his stride, though there’s a massive cloud of disappointment due to his withdrawal from the title fight.

For now, UFC 311 will march on with Renato Moicano stepping up to face Islam Makhachev. As it turns out, Islam doesn’t even care.

Islam’s promise about ‘Anybody Anywhere’ rings true

Ahead of his UFC 294 bout with Alexander Volkanovski, Islam had taken a shot at Jon Jones, who had refused to fight Chael Sonnen on short notice. Islam was actually fighting Volk on short notice himself. And arguably, Volk was a far bigger threat to him than Sonnen was to Jones.

When asked why he would take such a risk, Islam had simply explained what the title represented.

“What does this title represent? It means you’re the best in the world and if you’re the best in the world, it doesn’t matter who’s going to be standing across from you. What do I say? No? NEVER. Let’s do this!”

Dana White liked the quote so much that he had a part of it installed on a wall at the UFC Performance Institute.

So when White called him on Friday night at 1 AM to tell him his opponent was going to be changed, Islam simply told the boss that he was going to sleep and would wake up to fight whoever the promotion deemed worthy.

“When I called Islam he said, ‘Brother, I’m the champion. I don’t care who it is, I will fight anyone… I don’t care, I’m going to bed. When I wake up, and whoever I’m fighting tomorrow, I’m good with.’”

Now, that’s a champion worth rooting for!