Arman Tsarukyan has essentially been in no-man's-land in the UFC since pulling out because of injury one day before a title fight in January 2025.
But on Saturday night, he put himself back in position for a championship opportunity, knocking out Mauricio Ruffy in the final seconds of the first round of their UFC 331 co-main event in Los Angeles.
In the aftermath of last year's late cancellation, Tsarukyan was passed over twice in 2025 when the UFC was booking title fights, first after Islam Makhachev vacated the 155-pound belt to move to welterweight, and later when then-champ Ilia Topuria took time away from the sport and the UFC put an interim belt up for grabs. Tsarukyan was No. 1 in the UFC's lightweight rankings at the time, but UFC president and CEO Dana White said, "He had an opportunity, and you guys saw how that played out. He's going to have to work his way back. I don't give a s--- what the [ranking] number says."
Now it will be hard to deny Tsarukyan, who finished Ruffy with a left elbow to the face out of a clinch, followed by a right elbow as he was falling to the canvas. The KO came at 4:56.
As soon as referee Jason Herzog waved off the bout, Tsarukyan raced across the Octagon, climbed over the cage and shook White's hand, then motioned to his waist as if he were wrapping a championship belt around himself.
"For my next fight, for the title fight, I need that finish and I knew that I'm going to finish him," Tsarukyan said. "Yeah, it was a little bit difficult in the first round, but I knew that I have five rounds and my time was going to come. So I was patient."
In securing his sixth win in a row, Tsarukyan (24-3) was both patient and relentless. He absorbed a hard right hand early, which left a large bruise under his left eye, but continued to test his stand-up against the dangerous Ruffy (14-3), who had scored knockouts in 13 of his 14 career wins. But midway through the round, Tsarukyan unleashed his wrestling, trapping Ruffy against the cage. Although the Brazilian fended off all but one of Tsarukyan's takedown attempts, Ruffy left himself open to the elbow to the face, which ended it.