ABHA, Qatar – Arman Tsarukyan might have just punched and choked his ticket to a UFC title shot. In his first fight of the year, after injury derailed a planned January title opportunity, Tsarukyan returned with a vengeance in the UFC Qatar main event, brutalizing veteran contender Dan Hooker before finishing him with a suffocating arm-triangle choke in Round 2. The official time was 3:34 of the second round, as Tsarukyan extended his win streak to five straight and immediately called out lightweight champion Ilia Topuria.
“Feeling great. Thank Dan because of him, I fought this year,” Tsarukyan said in the cage.