Arman Tsarukyan needed only 64 seconds to knock out fellow 155-pound contender Beneil Dariush in the main event of a UFC Fight Night card Saturday in Austin, Texas.
Tsarukyan put Dariush away with a crisp combination to secure perhaps the most impressive victory of his UFC career. A statement win like this one gives the 27-year-old a strong case to be the next lightweight title challenger heading into 2024, and during his post-fight interview he told the crowd they can expect to see him with the belt around his waist one day.
Dariush has now lost consecutive fights for the first time in his career, both first-round knockouts. The 34-year-old was finished by Charles Oliveira earlier this year in Vancouver at UFC 289.
Tsarukyan has lost twice in the UFC but hasn’t been finished in the Octagon. He lost a five-round decision in a Fight of the Night with Mateusz Gamrot in June 2022, but has since won three in a row. He also lost a three-round decision in his UFC debut back in 2019 when he faced Islam Makhachev in another Fight of the Night performance.
Makhachev is the lightweight champion coming off a knockout of Alexander Volkanovski earlier this year, and a future rematch with Tsarukyan is within the realm of possibility.
The lightweight division was also featured in the co-main event with Jalin Turner knocking out Bobby Green at 2:49 of the opening round.
Turner took this fight on short notice after replacing an injured Dan Hooker but was the betting favourite ahead of the matchup with Green and he quickly showed why.
Turner’s significant height and reach advantage factored into him dropping Green with a right hand that should’ve been the end of the fight, however the referee took quite a while before deciding to intervene, so Turner ended up landing numerous unnecessary punches to an already-dazed Green.
Also on the main card, former men’s flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo moved up to bantamweight and earned a unanimous decision win over a veteran of the division in Rob Font.
While Figueiredo was successful moving up in weight, former middleweight contender Kelvin Gastelum didn’t have the same success moving back down to welterweight.
Gastelum was controlled for the majority of the fight and submitted with a kimura in the third round by Sean Brady. It was Brady’s first appearance since an October 2022 loss to Belal Muhammad, Brady’s first and only loss in MMA.
Nine of the 12 total fights on Saturday’s card ended before the judges were required. The preliminary card even featured two highlight-reel slam knockouts.
Here are the complete results:
MAIN CARD
— Arman Tsarukyan def. Beneil Dariush via knockout
— Jalin Turner def. Bobby Green via knockout
— Deiveson Figueiredo def. Rob Font via unanimous decision
— Sean Brady def. Kelvin Gastelum via submission (kimura)
— Joaquim Silva def. Clay Guida via unanimous decision
— Dustin Stoltzfus def. Punahele Soriano via submission (rear-naked choke)
PRELIMINARY CARD
— Miesha Tate def. Julia Avila via submission (rear-naked choke)
— Cody Brundage def. Zachary Reese via knockout
— Drakkar Klose def. Joe Solecki via knockout
— Rodolfo Bellato def. Ihor Potieria via TKO (punches)
— Jared Gooden def. Wellington Turman via submission (rear-naked choke)
— Veronica Hardy def. Jamey-Lyn Horth via split decision