{"id":40467,"date":"2026-09-10T03:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T03:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Justin-Gaethje-questions-Arman-Tsarukyans-UFC-311-injury-claim-202737"},"modified":"2026-09-10T03:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T03:52:09","slug":"justin-gaethje-questions-arman-tsarukyans-ufc-311-injury-claim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/justin-gaethje-questions-arman-tsarukyans-ufc-311-injury-claim\/","title":{"rendered":"Justin Gaethje questions Arman Tsarukyan\u2019s UFC 311 injury claim"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Justin
\nGaethje<\/a> has weighed in on Arman
\nTsarukyan<\/a> pulling out of his lone championship opportunity in
\nthe
\nUltimate Fighting Championship<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tsarukyan was scheduled to challenge Islam
\nMakhachev<\/a> for the UFC lightweight title at
\nUFC 311<\/a> in January 2025. He pulled out the night before
\nweigh-ins due to an alleged back injury and has since been out of
\nthe title picture. Gaethje believes Tsarukyan wasn\u2019t on course to
\nmake championship weight and used the injury as an excuse.<\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Gaethje speculates weight-cutting issues led Tsarukyan to
\nwithdraw from his Islam Makhachev title fight<\/h2>\n

Gaethje refuses to believe Tsarukyan was forced out of the fight
\ndue to a back injury. He argues that the UFC wouldn\u2019t have treated
\nTsarukyan as they did if the injury concern was real. Gaethje
\nbelieves Tsarukyan may have had a difficult weight cut wherein his
\nbody came close to shutting down.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe truth is, he wasn\u2019t gonna make weight, so he dropped out,\u201d
\nGaethje told Demetrious
\nJohnson<\/a>. \u201cIf it was his back and it was a medical report on
\npaper with the UFC, then he wouldn\u2019t be suffering like this. I\u2019m
\njust speculating, I don\u2019t know sh*t. Maybe his body was shutting
\ndown and he just couldn\u2019t make weight; it happens. Maybe he was
\nlike, \u2018My body is shutting down and I\u2019m not gonna make weight. But
\nif you were to pay me more money, then I will push through this and
\nI will make weight.\u2019 And if someone ever did that, then I could see
\nthem never getting a championship fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dana
\nWhite<\/a> previously said that the UFC doctors had allowed
\nTsarukyan to go ahead with the fight. However, Tsarukyan argues
\nthat the doctor couldn\u2019t do an MRI with her eyes to know the extent
\nof his injury. The top-ranked 155-pounder later told Daniel
\nCormier<\/a> that an MRI subsequently revealed a major injury in his
\nback, which will need surgery at some point.<\/p>\n

Tsarukyan (23-3) is now scheduled to take on Mauricio
\nRuffy<\/a> (14-2) at UFC
\n331<\/a> on Sept. 19 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n