Arman Tsarukyan has quashed a crazy rumor about his injury.
The lightweight contender was scheduled to face Islam Makhachev in a title fight in the main event at UFC 311, which took place Saturday night at the Intuit Dome in California.
Unfortunately, he withdrew from the competition on Friday after hurting his back while cutting weight. Renato Moicano stepped in to replace him and was quickly submitted by Makhachev at UFC 311.
Arman Tsarukyan has now opened up about the injury that ruined the biggest moment of his life and left him fighting his way back into Dana White's good books.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Arman Tsarukyan shuts down the fan theory
During fight week, popular MMA interviewer Nina Daniele Marie – aka Nina Drama – uploaded footage of her training with Tsarukyan to social media.
When it was announced that Tsarukyan was injured ahead of UFC 311, a portion of fans pointed to a small clip of Nina's video and falsely claimed that this was how the Armenian fighter was injured.
It shows him balancing on his head while walking his legs across the mat and wriggling in a way that would surely cause a less flexible man to get hurt.
“Like I just laughed thinking about how Arman Tsarukyan threw his back out to impress Nina Drama,” former UFC middleweight Derek Brunson wrote alongside the footage following the UFC 311 rescheduling.
Many fans came to the same conclusion as Brunson, but their conspiracy theory has now been debunked by the man himself, who insists he does that exercise every day.
“No, the thing I do every day for my warm-up,” Tsarukyan said when Ariel Helwani asked him about rumors about his injury while training with Nina Drama.
“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 trained very hard during the week. I had good energy and no problems. It happened just as I started losing weight.
“It's due to dehydration. Maybe that's why it happened.”
Nina Drama issues statement
Nina Drama took to social media after Tsarukyan's latest interview with Ariel Helwani.
The former Playboy model revealed what she went through when an angry group of the MMA community believed she played a role in the breakup of the UFC 311 main event.
I received a few death threats from mma fans after news broke that Arman Tsarukyan had been injured. Fans accused me of getting him injured while filming our fight vlog. My phone was on all day. I didn't even respond because it was so ridiculous, but also… pic.twitter.com/5nWC4SPb3E
— Nina-Marie Daniele (@ninamdrama) January 21, 2025
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“I received a few death threats from MMA fans after news broke that Arman Tsarukyan was injured,” she captioned a video shared on her X page.
“Fans are accusing me of him getting hurt while filming our fight vlog. My phone was on all day. I didn't even respond because it was so ridiculous, but every time I go to defend myself (and prove you guys wrong), it doesn't even matter.
“MMA fans believe that whatever best suits their story about me, they don't want the truth. Glad @arielhelwani asked this question. Appreciate it!”
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