‘Total Failure’: Arman Tsarukyan Tries to Master Islam Makhachev’s Poirier-Finishing Move, but Fails to Impress Fans

Allan Binoy | 22/04/2025
Arman Tsarukyan (L), Islam Makhachev (R)

With a lightweight title fight still within sight, Arman Tsarukyan is back to training, curiously tailoring it to mimic his to-be opponent, Islam Makhachev.

Tsarukyan was supposed to fight Makhachev at UFC 311 in January but had to declare himself out of contention after hurting his back a day before the PPV.

At the time, UFC boss Dana White had declared his ineligibility to compete for the title until he secured one or more wins against contenders. However, the situation has since changed, with Makhachev’s mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov preferring him over a title defence against former featherweight champion Ilia Topuria.

Regardless of where he stands, Tsarukyan was seen working on his submission prowess in the gym with a maneuver that has come to be associated with Makhachev- the D’Arce choke. Unfortunately, it has been a series of trials and errors so far for the Armenian fighter, causing MMA enthusiasts to take the mickey out of him.

“He needs to go 2-3 years Dagestan and forget,” one fan quipped, referring to the infamous Makhachev meme, where he suggests the best way for Daniel Cormier’s kids to excel in wrestling.

Notably, the move Arman was attempting wasn’t exactly the D’Arce. It was more an improvised short-arm version of it, which Islam used to choke out Dustin Poirier at UFC 302 last year.

A fan tried to explain how the lightweight champion pulled it off with ease and said, “Islams TOO freakishly fucking strong that’s how it works for him lol.”

A short-arm D’Arce choke is far more complicated to execute than its normal version. The fighter doesn’t have as much support from their secondary hand while squeezing the opponent’s neck. So, it comes down to better weight placement with more application of brute force than any technique.

Unfortunately, Tsarukyan just isn’t there yet. As this fan noted, “Total Failure” was the sentiment across the board.


The Armenian fighter also seemed to take a serious amount of time to set up the choke, which allowed his MMA enthusiast to compare him with the 155 lbs champ and comment, “If it was Islam, he would already be tapping”.

Others suggested that Tsaruyan should go to the source of the magic- the Caucasus Mountains!

“Send him to Dagestan! 2-3 years and forget, maybe that guy will tap. Or sleep”, a fan joked.

Perhaps Tsarukyan needs more time to prepare. And he doesn’t mind. He believes Topuria is going to be fighting for the title before him anyway.

Tsarukyan confident of Islam vs Topuria

Topuria has been busy during his US tour, appearing on big podcasts like the Joe Rogan Experience to talk about all things MMA. However, his attempts at garnering public sentiment in favor of a fight with Islam have been anything but subtle.

On Patrick Bet David’s PBD podcast, Topuria openly challenged Makhachev, claiming that despite what the Dagestani’s team may think, he had the advantage on foot and ground.

In fact, Ilia went a step further and claimed he could finish Islam with his own favorite submission.

“Me, personally, I would ask him, ‘What’s your favorite submission?’ Whatever, I don’t know, D’Arce choke. I’m going to submit you with that.”

While Islam has yet to respond to this, Tsarukyan believes he might not have a choice in the upcoming days.

“I think he (Ilia Topuria) gonna fight for the belt for sure. I think he left 145 because they said okay we gonna give you title fight”, he stated on the Jaxxon podcast.

 

However, Tsarukyan is also not oblivious to Islam’s problem with fighting yet another featherweight.

“Islam doesn’t wanna fight him because if he wins then people are gonna say, ‘Okay you again beat 145 (lbs) fighter and he’s not #1 contender”, he noted.

Hopefully the suspense will come to an end soon.

Post Edited By: Smrutisnat Jena
Arman Tsarukyan Islam Makhachev

About the author

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Allan Binoy

Allan Binoy is a MMA journalist at The SportsRush. Taken to the sport in 2015, thanks to a certain Conor McGregor, Allan has himself dabbled in the martial arts. And having graduated from Loyola College, Chennai, with a degree in English Literature, he has learnt to use his love for language to have a voice in the MMA community. Allan has been writing about the gladiatorial stories for more than three years now and has pursued excellence at a number of reputable media organizations, covering every UFC PPV in the last couple of years. In addition to this, the southpaw is also a semi-professional soccer player for Diego Juniors FC in Pune, playing in the Pune Super Division League.

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