There’s no doubt Arman Tsarukyan felt deeply disappointed after Joe Rogan ignored him, only to let Paddy Pimblett face off Ilia Topuria after the ‘El Matador’s lightweight title win. As the backup fighter for the main event, he was successful in making weight, showing the promotion that he can be relied upon. Despite the snub that night, Tsarukyan is not sulking over the past as he recently revealed to have been busy helping Khamzat Chimaev.

Arman Tsarukyan and Khamzat Chimaev appear to have established a very friendly relationship in the past few months. They were both opposition coaches on the Russian MMA reality show, Hype Reality 3, and even wrestled with each other. According to ‘Ahalkalakets’, he’s been training with Chimaev ever since that moment, and guess what? Tsarukyan is also helping the undefeated star in his fight against Dricus du Plessis at UFC 319.

Khamzat Chimaev was supposed to come to the United States in mid-July and had plans to train with Arman Tsarukyan in over a week’s time. However, the Armenian star told him about his obligations in Thailand, where he’s busy with an MMA event. Although Chimaev agreed to wait for the lightweight star, he did not want to waste any time and started his preparations already.

“He’s supposed to come [to Newport on] July 15, but he called me one week ago, ‘Bro, I’m coming [on] June 30.’ I said, ‘Bro, I’m like, I’ll be out. I’ll be in Thailand,” Arman Tsarukyan told ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. “He said, ‘Okay, I’m going to rest a couple [of] days. When you come back, we will start.’ But I saw a picture. He already start to train. He doesn’t want to rest even.”

Well, Arman Tsarukyan is one of the top wrestling-heavy fighters in the entire UFC roster. So, there’s no doubt that training with the No.1 contender will come in handy for Khamzat Chimaev against Dricus du Plessis. However, things are never easy when training with the Chechen-born star, as Tsarukyan revealed the reality of those training sessions. Here’s what he had to say.

Khamzat Chimaev is unforgiving, claims Arman Tsarukyan

Khamzat Chimaev has shown how merciless he is with his opponents inside the cage, rag-dolling and manhandling them. Things aren’t very different in training, as he’s known to go a bit too hard with his training. And guess what? Even former middleweight champion Sean Strickland once came to one of his teammates’ aid and sounded off on Chimaev for going over and beyond in training, asking the undefeated star to “be nice.”

Well, the experience has been similar for Arman Tsarukyan, who claims that Khamzat Chimaev has no regard for how big or small his sparring and training partners are. However, in turn, ‘Ahalkalakets’ are focused on the positives, as he claims to benefit from ‘Borz’ as well. “I mean, Khamzat, he’s a tough guy. And he doesn’t care if you’re lighter than him, more than 25 pounds. He’ll just go hard with everybody,” Tsarukyan further stated.

“It’s good for me, you know. I get a lot of like experience, and I feel like if I can wrestle with him, I can wrestle with anybody,” the lightweight star added. Well, Dricus du Plessis has already put down three former champions, so Khamzat Chimaev will need all the help he can get past the finishing line. What do you think? Will the undefeated fighter become a champion come UFC 319? Drop your comments below.