This year could have given us arguably the greatest lightweight matchup in recent memory, with Arman Tsarukyan and Islam Makhachev fighting for the second time. The Armenian was touted as the Dagestani champ’s toughest test to date, given that he lost to Makhachev via only a unanimous decision back in 2019. Yet another run with the belt on the line would have been big. However, ‘Akhalkalakets’ pulled out owing to a back injury while cutting weight and with this, he lost his opportunity at UFC gold. To make things worse, Dana White seems in no mood to give the fighter another title shot anytime soon.

“No (he won’t be automatically rebooked for a title fight),” White revealed at the UFC 311 post-fight press conference. “You miss opportunities sometimes and he did, so we’ll see how this plays out for him next year. I have no idea (if he could’ve competed at UFC 311), only he knows that.” Amid this, Javier Mendez, Makhachev’s coach, has come forward to clear the confusion surrounding the controversial pullout.

The Armenian star had actually let the UFC management know about his injury hours before the weigh-in event started. This was the reason why he faced skepticism, and Mendez doesn’t seem to deny the notion of the Armenian fighter facing severe weight-cutting issues. Here is what he said on the ‘Javier & Mo Show’ on YouTube.

Did Tsarukyan miss making weight? This rumor was spreading and now Makhachev’s coach has clarified it. “He actually missed weight because he didn’t get to the scale, but the reason why he missed weight is because he had an injury in the process of losing weight.”

Doubling down on the fact that Tsarukyan’s injury was indeed real, Mendez further stated, “He would have went out there and weighed in and he would have got paid because you got to understand [that] if he was able to weigh in, he’d have weighed in anyways. Just wouldn’t have been able to fight for the title, but, at least, he’d have got paid still. So the poor guy didn’t end up getting paid anything. So there’s no reason that I would think someone logically would go out there, work that hard, and all of a sudden, pull out the night before because he didn’t make weight. No way. It was a legit injury.”

To add some context to the situation, Javier Mendez reminded us how Khabib Nurmagomedov fell victim to the same situation as Arman Tsarukyan. One of the biggest misses in Dana White’s career was that he couldn’t make the fight between Tony Ferguson and ‘The Eagle’ happen. The plans for that fight fell off a staggering five times. Among those five times, the clash between the two lightweight legends was once canceled due to Nuragomedov’s weight-cutting issues.

At UFC 209, it seemed like we would get the fight that the fans had been waiting for a long time, but Khabib Nurmagomedov had to be hospitalized. The issue, caused by the weight-cutting process, happened due to the 29-0 legend suffering severe abdominal pain and dehydration. Hence, Javier Mendez wasn’t surprised when Arman Tsarukyan did the same recently. He stated: “It happened to Khabib. Same thing. Same thing. All of a sudden he’s cutting weight and all of a sudden, due to the drastic weight cut, some of these guys do, injuries happen. This is what happened to Arman. It happened to Khabib, so I am very familiar with it.”

However, Arman Tsarukyan plans to make it back into the title even if he isn’t getting an immediate rematch. After UFC 313 got wrapped up, the Armenian star mentioned three options Dana White could consider for his journey to the top of the lightweight division.

Arman Tsarukyan lays down three options for his next fight!

Arman Tsarukyan is sure that just one win will help him get back that title shot against Islam Makhachev once again. However, it’s important to note that quite a few contenders are waiting in line for a title shot, including Charles Oliveira and Justin Gaethje, who recently doubled down on the fact that they will not back off. The latter is on his final run in the promotion, desperate to win a fight for the belt. But then again, Ilia Topuria has also made his way into the lightweight division and is eyeing a title fight as well.

Tsarukyan is only open to taking on any of the three aforementioned contenders, but he strongly believes that Dana White may not be considering Ilia Topuria as his next opponent. “I want to fight with contenders… I want someone from top five like Gaethje or Oliveira. Gaethje wants to fight for the title, so it makes sense to fight with me because nobody is going to give him title fight. It’s not going to be fair that he’s going to get the title fight.

“So he’s got to beat me or Oliveira to get that title fight. There’s Ilia, too, but I think they’re going to give me Oliveira or Gaethje or maybe title fight,” Arman Tsarukyan said last week.

The discussions surrounding Arman Tsarukyan‘s UFC 311 pullout have subsided of late, but what do you think of Javier Mendez’s explanation? Do you agree with Team Khabib’s head coach? Drop your comments below.