It’s going to be hard to keep Arman Tsarukyan away from the lightweight title following Saturday’s brutal knockout of Mauricio Ruffy in the co-main event of UFC 331.
Tsarukyan (24-4), who pulled out of a 155-pound title shot one day before UFC 311 in January 2025 with a back injury, improved his win streak to six straight by knocking Ruffy (14-3) out cold from the standing clinch with a pair of devastating elbows inside Crypto.com Arena with just four seconds remaining in the first of a scheduled five rounds.
Originally scheduled to face former champion Charlies Oliveira in a rematch, the 30-year-old Ruffy replaced him on a month’s notice and fared well in the early going by making Tsarukyan, a 29-year-old native of Armenia, work hard to secure takedowns. Ruffy even connected on a straight right hand early on that caused considerable swelling below Tsarukyan’s right eye and forced him to rely upon on his wrestling and grappling skills.
“Of course, for my next fight, the title fight, I needed that finish and I knew that I would finish him,” Tsarukyan said. “It was a little difficult at first but I knew that I had five rounds and that my time was going to come. I was patient.”
Ruffy, the exciting Brazilian striker who entered the fight with a 4-1 record since his 2024 UFC debut, got right back up after being taken down early. But Tsarukyan continued to make him work from the clinch along the cage.
After the both fighter exchanged hard elbows, Tsarukyan reversed position by putting Ruffy’s back up against the cage and unleashed a left elbow to the eye that knocked him unconscious. Tsarukyian, however, inadvertently held Ruffy’s body up when he followed up with a right elbow that dropped him, forcing referee Jason Herzog to instantly jump in and stop the fight at 4:56.
UFC lightweight champion Justin Gaethje isn’t expected to return to the Octagon until next year but the victory, including the brutal nature of the finish, has made Tsarukyan a virtually undeniable choice. Even though Tsarukyan had fought just once in the last 29 months entering the fight due to the fallout of his withdrawal from his 2025 rematch with Islam Makhachev, he built himself on social media into a star since then and the Los Angeles crowd received him as one.
“Title fight or Mark Zuckerberg, I want to fight you next,” Tsarukyan joked after the fight.
