Dustin Poirier claims Arman Tsarukyan was ‘saved’ by clothing malfunction in first Charles Oliveira fight

Dustin Poirier has recalled a moment in Arman Tsarukyan’s first fight with Charles Oliveira that he believes ‘saved’ him.

For a while now, Arman Tsarukyan has been the consensus number one contender in the lightweight division.

That is despite the fact that he hasn’t fought since last November when he dominated Dan Hooker in the UFC Qatar main event.

The 29-year-old could finally be set for his return to the cage, though, as he and Charles Oliveira are seemingly set for a rematch at UFC 331 this coming September.

Dustin Poirier claims Tsarukyan was ‘saved’ in first Oliveira clash

‘Ahalkalakets’ and ‘Do Bronx’ first met in 2024 at UFC 300 when Tsarukyan picked up the split decision win over the former lightweight champion.

Despite it being a split decision, it wasn’t seen as an entirely controversial result as the majority of fans and media members had the Armenian winning the fight.

However, there was a moment in the fight where Oliveira came extremely close to submitting Tsarukyan, wrapping him up in a guillotine/D’Arce choke which seemed to be in extremely deep.

Tsarukyan flopped to the floor and played dead, which helped him subsequently get out of the choke. As well as that, his shorts slipped down which affected Oliveira’s grip and guard.

That is something that former UFC lightweight Dustin Poirier believes ‘saved’ Tsarukyan, and if his shorts didn’t come down, he would’ve been submitted.

“Listen, it was a close fight but they had a malfunction with the clothing that saved Arman, I don’t know how anybody else is not talking about this,” Poirier said on the Deep Waters podcast.

“Coming from a guy who knows how to miss guillotines, (Oliveira) would’ve got the guillotine if those shorts wouldn’t have slipped off, the shorts slipped off and it allowed him to get out of Charles’ guard.

“He had full guard and locked in a guillotine, Arman started getting his hips down, his shorts came down which allowed Charles’ guard to come off and it saved Arman, it saved Arman. Cheeks clapping and he would’ve been tapping… The shorts coming off saved him from being guillotined,” he continued.

Tsarukyan will be hoping that their rematch isn’t as close as their first meeting, as he risks losing out on a title shot if he is handed his first loss since 2022.