Arman Tsarukyan and Khamzat Chimaev joining forces might have caused panic among their opponents. Both have known each other for quite a while, and ‘Akhalkalakets’ played a big role as Borz’s teammate during his camp for Robert Whittaker at UFC 308. But at UFC 319, the two coveted superstars working together under the JAXXON training facilities really came into the spotlight. Now, ahead of the UFC’s inaugural event in Qatar, the two superstars have teamed up once again.

With the reigning middleweight champion in his corner, Tsarukyan’s preparation for Dan Hooker looks like a real battle-ready camp. And surely, the Armenian wants to use every bit of knowledge he picked up from years of training with Chimaev, who many consider one of the elite wrestlers in today’s UFC. Still, the number-one lightweight admitted there’s one thing he couldn’t pick up even after so many sessions with the Chechen. That is his mindset.

Arman Tsarukyan opens up on mindset gap with Khamzat Chimaev

In an interview with Adam Catterall on the One on One MMA YouTube channel, Tsarukyan said, “Yeah, pretty same mindset. And the best thing, he doesn’t think about his opponent, who he’s fighting with. He doesn’t think… He just thinks what he’s going to do. That mindset is, I think is very important. Because you have your game plan, and he doesn’t care what he’s going to do. He just thinks I’m gonna do this and that’s all.”

For an undefeated 15-0 force like Chimaev, it almost feels natural that he rarely worries about his opponents, fully trusting that his skillset will overwhelm whoever stands in front of him. Even former UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub once described ‘Borz’s sparring sessions as “scary”in a JAXXON Podcast episode, because of how dominant he got. Keeping that same intensity in mind, Tsarukyan also mentioned that he tends to study his opponents far more than Khamzat does during fight prep.

Tsarukyan added in the One on One interview, “Is that I mean, like if compare me and Khamzat I think about my opponent more than him. Okay. So, I put my sparring partners and tell them to do this, do that, like kick like this, drop your hands like that, Dan does, and switch the stance. But Khamzat, no, he doesn’t care about it. So, we’re a little bit different, but I’m trying to get that mindset from him.”

As the Armenian explained, thinking about an opponent before a fight feels completely normal, something most top fighters experience. It’s just a different process. To exemplify, Dustin Poirier once said he liked feeling a bit nervous heading into his bouts. But while Tsarukyan pointed out what makes Khamzat’s mentality different, he also hinted at the one thing that annoys him the most during their training sessions. 

Tsarukyan reveals what ‘Borz’ dislikes the most in training 

Arman Tsarukyan definitely pointed out that his teammate is more headstrong than him, but just like most fighters, Khamzat Chimaev also dislikes a few things. In Chimaev’s case, it’s when training doesn’t go perfectly. Sharing more about his experience training with the reigning middleweight champion and observing his ways, ‘Akhalkalakets’ revealed that ‘Borz ‘usually gets angry if even a single session doesn’t go his way.

The Armenian further added in the One on One interview,“Yeah, he’s a hard worker and uh he listens very well his corners and he always trust I’m saying and during the camp he always like listen to you and because I had that experience that I hurt myself and I was telling him all camp bro like calm down calm down and sometimes the when like sparrings went not that good. He got mad and doing after sparring, trying to lift one hour. I said, ‘Bro, like calm down. It’s okay. One day, like it’s not good sparring.’”

And that actually shows how, even though Chimaev doesn’t think about his opponent too much, he still believes in having a perfect training session. One bad day can push the middleweight champ into frustration. So what gets him back on track? Rest? No. Tsarukyan revealed further into the interview that Chimaev doesn’t like resting either. Instead, he prefers staying in the gym until the training session feels perfect — that’s the only thing that settles him down.

That said, as Chimaev and Tsarukyan have built a strong bond, do you think having Borz in the corner at Qatar could increase Tsarukyan’s chances of winning the main event against Dan Hooker because of the corner advice? Let us know in the comments section below.