Dana White has dropped a last-minute bombshell ahead of tomorrow night's UFC 311 event in California after revealing that Arman Tsarukyan is out due to an injury, with Renato Moicano now stepping up to fight Islam Makhachev for the lightweight title in the main event.
In a video post White revealed that Tsarukyan had contact the UFC in the early hours of Friday morning to say that he was suffering from significant back pain and wouldn't be able to fight for the title against Makhachev.
Luckily for the UFC brass, they happened to have another top 10 lightweight contender elsewhere on the main card, with Renato Moicano having been set to fight Beneil Dariush in the main card opener, and so they've given him the opportunity instead.
"Hey guess what I will be world champion tomorrow! God is so good! Thank you all the support," Moicano wrote on X.
Dariush may feel somewhat aggrieved given that he's actually ranked one spot above Moicano at No.9, but the new booking does make sense in terms of their recent results, with 'Money' Moicano currently riding a four-fight winning streak, while Dariush has been out for a year after suffering back-to-back losses via strikes in 2023.
It seems that Dariush is now off the UFC 311 card altogether, while a heavyweight fight between Jailton Almeida and Sergey Spivak has now been promoted to the main card.
Ross Cole
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