Arman Tsarukyan: Adriano Martins’ Win vs. Islam Makhachev Wasn’t 'Lucky Punch'

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

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Arman Tsarukyan has high praise for Adriano Martins, the only man to beat Islam Makhachev.

Arman Tsarukyan: Adriano Martins’ Win vs. Islam Makhachev Wasn’t 'Lucky Punch'

Arman Tsarukyan has high praise for Adriano Martins, the only man to beat Islam Makhachev.

www.sherdog.com

Tsarukyan challenges Makhachev for the lightweight title in the main event at UFC 311 on Saturday at the Intuit Dome in Las Vegas. In preparation, Tsarukyan is training with Martins, who dealt Makhachev his lone career loss in 2015.

Makhachev faced Martins in his sophomore Ultimate Fighting Championship outing in 2015, when he suffered a first-round knockout loss. With Makhachev having since taken over the lightweight division, many attribute that loss to a lucky shot from Martins. However, Tsarukyan doesn’t think so after sparring with the Brazilian veteran. According to “Ahalkalakets,” Martins holds natural power in his hands, which left him bleeding for two weeks after getting hit in sparring.

“I’ll tell you straight, his punch is insane,” Tsarukyan told Ushatayka (h/t Home of Fight). “It’s not just a lucky punch, as people say. He landed two punches like that on me during sparring, and… no one has ever hit me like that. He caught me once, and my eye swelled up completely, turned all blue. I don’t know… I spat blood for two weeks, man. His power is natural, absolutely insane. He just hits incredibly hard. That right hook and his straight left, they’re just crazy.

“Not surprising at all. I also thought it was a lucky punch, but after sparring with him… when he landed that right hook on me, I realized it’s better to box at a distance with this guy.”

Makhachev is unbeaten in 14 fights since his loss to Martins, a run which includes four title wins. Meanwhile, Tsarukyan has lost only once in 10 outings since falling to Makhachev in 2019.

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[haj02]

Tsarukyan seems to have a very low ego and balanced view of fighting. He's got the right attitude to learn anything.​

 

[gentel]

Kinda true, Islam really leaned in on a punch that was way out of range, kinda like Aljo did against O'Malley. He made a fight-ending boxing mistake

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

 

[fortheo]

The idea that a perfectly timed step back counter hook was a fluke was always silly. Islam watched Martins outgrapple his teammate khabilov and thought that a striking approach would be best. Bad idea.

 

[Sean Chowdhury]

yeah it wasn't a fluke, it was one of the nastiest counters I've seen, Islam fought like a moron in that fight though, he was striking running forward like a caveman

 

[TITS]

The press conference is gonna be hilarious.

 

[FrappeDuRocma]

I hope he's trolling, if he's getting caught by a washed Adrian Martins during sparring, Islam is going to destroy him...

 

[TheMMAnalyst]

It wasn't a lucky punch, but it was when Islam's striking was absolute dog-shit.

He's clearly grown leaps and bounds since then, but he does still have a bad habit of falling over his feet if he's blitzing forward with combinations (he got away with it versus Charles a few times because he had Charles hurt and shelled up/backing up not thinking about countering).

I mean if there is a striking hole to clearly exploit it's to get Islam recklessly blitzing, but it rarely happens and seems pretty tough to induce. Arman certainly has his work cut out for him.

 

[TriangleMonkey]

So basically Martins holds wins over both Islam and Arman

 

[Harlekin]

Sounds like Martins is 3:0 against the Dagestanis. As he also beat Rustam Khabilov

 

[dildos]

Agreed.

Islam was out flush.

 

[RockyLockridge]

Sounds like Martins is 3:0 against the Dagestanis. As he also beat Rustam Khabilov

Adriano "Brazza Hunter" Martins

Strickland is 2- against them aswell. Abus and Imavov

 

[Westbrick]

Had lot of faith on Martins, started too old on the big leagues.

 

[Blanqa Blanqua]

Tsarukyan seems to have a very low ego and balanced view of fighting. He's got the right attitude to learn anything.​

Word, gonna be a good fight.

 

[Versez]

I can’t wait for that bum to get humbled this Saturday.

 

[omawho402]

I agree it wasn't a lucky punch, but if those two guys fought I do believe Islam wins 90% of the time.

That's MMA for you, the better more skilled and conditioned guy doesn't always win.

 

[Dirty Frank]

The man, the myth, the legend.

Adriano Martins.

 

[HuskySamoan]

The idea that a perfectly timed step back counter hook was a fluke was always silly. Islam watched Martins outgrapple his teammate khabilov and thought that a striking approach would be best. Bad idea.

That punch would never land if they fought now, so FACTUALLY it's a lucky punch.

 

[Nobru]

Arman wins this then a rematch