UFC 311 was supposed to be Arman Tsarukyan’s time for glory. He was just inches closer to his ultimate goal but fate had other plans for him. What happened? Unfortunately, he had to pull out of the bout at the last moment before the weigh-ins due to a back injury. It now looks like ‘Ahalkalakets’ will have to wait and possibly fight again to earn another title shot at the lightweight champ.

He was supposed to fight Islam Makhachev who ended up facing Renato Moicano as a last-minute replacement. The Dagestani champ was left to defend his title against ‘Money’ Moicano who was originally scheduled to fight Beneil Dariush on the main card. So Tsarukyan watched the whole thing unfold, missing a payday while nursing an injury. But it didn’t stop there for ‘Ahalkalakets’, as Michael Chandler decided to rub salt in the wound.

But why is Chandler getting into the mix? Do you remember how Tsarukyan behaved towards ‘Iron’ when he lost to Dustin Poirier? We’ll remind you. In an X tweet from January 2023, he wrote, “Hey [Michael Chandler] it’s time to defend your rankings! Lowest fight IQ in the division against new mma generation. I won’t see you at the top.” This is exactly why the wound is returning to the Tsarukyan 4-fold.  ‘Iron’ made sure to take a jibe recently after ‘Ahalkalakets’ got injured, posting on X, “You don’t show up, you don’t get a shot. Beat me, if you can, @ArmanUfc.”

But this isn’t the first time Chandler has taken shots at Tsarukyan. While the pair are no strangers to taking shots at each other, ‘Iron’ called out Tsarukyan last year for one peculiar reason. Let’s find out why.

Michael Chandler slammed Tsarukyan’s to “wait another year” for title shot

Everyone trolled Michael Chandler for waiting on sidelines for Conor McGregor -everyone including Arman Tsarukyan. So it was surprising when the 22-3-0 stated in an interview, “I don’t care when this fight happens, even if it’s in a year.” This comment obviously attracted the attention of ‘Iron’ who immediately reminded Tsarukyan of his past mockery of him and McGregor.

Chandler said, “Wait a second, Arman Tsarukyan, you said you’d wait another year? That would put you out for 17 months. You’d wait 17 months for a fight? Pot, meet kettle.” ‘Iron’ is generally known to not beef with other fighters and always keeps it clean and light when talking about his opponents. Nonetheless, Chandler was gracious to extend well wishes to Arman Tsarukyan and Islam Makhachev for their upcoming fight, well before Tsarukyan lost his chance.

Chandler stated before going in there for a second time against Charles Oliveira last November, “We will see how it plays out. The fight will happen way before a year… both guys are studs. However, you can’t say this after calling me out for waiting.”

Do you think we’ll ever see a fight between Michael Chandler and Arman Tsarukyan? What do you think awaits ‘Ahalkalakets’ now? Let us know in the comments down below.