Preview: UFC on ESPN 52 ‘Dariush vs. Tsarukyan’

The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday in Austin, Texas, gets back to business with a surprisingly strong post-Thanksgiving card—four deep in fights that could easily headline a different show. The UFC on ESPN 52 main event represents one of the most interesting bouts the promotion can put together in a deep lightweight division, as Arman Tsarukyan looks for a signature victory against Beneil Dariush, with the winner perhaps as close as one step away from a title shot. The co-feature serves as another showcase at 155 pounds, as Jalin Turner takes on Bobby Green in a prospect-versus-veteran clash that appears quite important for both parties. Beyond that, two fighters changing weight classes offer plenty of intrigue: Former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo gets thrown right into the fray at 135 pounds against Rob Font, while Kelvin Gastelum makes his long-teased return to welterweight, where he battles the scale and top prospect Sean Brady.

Now to the UFC on ESPN 52 “Dariush vs. Tsarukyan” preview:

Lightweights

#4 LW | Beneil Dariush (22-5-1, 16-5-1 UFC) vs. #8 LW | Arman Tsarukyan (20-3, 7-2 UFC)

ODDS: Tsarukyan (-278), Dariush (+225)

This is a crucial spot for Dariush. He was advertised as a potential future title contender when he hit the UFC in 2014, and despite a few missteps, he mostly lived up to the hype, coalescing his approach into a consistent pressure game that offered trouble on the feet and the ground. However, the back half of 2017 and early parts of 2018 were a rough stretch for Dariush, and a 42-second knockout loss to then-newcomer Alexander Hernandez seemingly closed the window for his title hopes. He had proven to be a well-rounded fighter, but his tendency to suddenly get caught and finished made it difficult to believe he could gain enough momentum to wind up in contention. Dariush leaned on his wrestling and grappling for a few rebound wins until his 2020 fight with Drakkar Klose, which saw the Rafael Cordeiro protege seemingly embrace the madness and unlock a new level of success. Finding himself on the ropes once again, Dariush suddenly marched forward hunting for a finish and refused to be stopped, ending the fight with a brutal knockout. A subsequent win over Scott Holtzman went in similar fashion, and from there, he synthesized into an absolute terror. His next few fights were notable for just how much he shut down his opponents’ wrestling, a skill set now paired with some technical and violent striking. Dariush finally met his match in former champion Charles Oliveira, who stopped his eight-fight winning streak after about four minutes of madness in June, but his combination of credibility and potential violence keeps him firmly on the edges of the title picture despite the loss. To stay here, Dariush—somehow in his first UFC main event—needs to hold serve against a rising top talent in Tsarukyan.

In contrast to Dariush’s long and winding road towards title contention, Tsarukyan’s UFC career has been fairly cut and dry. The Armenian showed up in 2019 as an obvious top talent and has spent every moment living up to the hype since. The UFC seemingly knew what it had in Tsarukyan from the jump, as his debut came against current lightweight champion Islam Makhachev. After giving Makhachev a surprisingly tough fight, Tsarukyan went back to racking up wins. Initially a bit of an overaggressive grinder, Tsarukyan turned the corner into a potent finisher on the mat, owing to some brutal ground-and-pound, and gained enough notice that the UFC tabbed him for a headliner against Mateusz Gamrot in June 2022. That is easily the most interesting fight thus far on Tsarukyan’s UFC record, since it is the clearest example of how his game has evolved. Faced with the rare opponent who could match him in some outstanding wrestling exchanges, Tsarukyan pivoted to a range striking game where he separated himself as the much cleaner striker. That approach might have cost Tsarukyan the controversial decision loss. Despite Tsarukyan landing the more effective offense, the judges decided to reward Gamrot’s pressure and control for some surprising scorecards. Things have worked out for Tsarukyan since, however. After two one-sided wins, he finds himself back in a main event spot trying to succeed where Gamrot could not in defeating Dariush. Each man’s fight against Gamrot could wind up being instructive. Faced with Gamrot’s pace wrestling game, Tsarukyan might have pivoted to different ideas, while Dariush showed off the chops to win that fight head-on, stalling out the former KSW champion, picking his spots to land offense and then winning the fight on the feet. In general, outwrestling Dariush has never been a path to much success, so if he is able to stuff a few takedowns early, it will be interesting to see how Tsarukyan reacts. He pivoted to striking against Gamrot, but that is also the lone fight where Tsarukyan has shown any suggestion of cardio issues, of particular interest in a five-round fight. Dariush’s cardio itself is a major question mark—if only because he has never gone five rounds—but he has shown no signs of slowing down after three rounds in wrestling-heavy affairs, so he should be able to neutralize a lot of Tsarukyan’s takedowns and dictate the striking of this fight for as long as needed. From there, it is not necessarily a guarantee that Dariush can get a win over the finish line—even with his form over the last few years, his durability is always going to be a worry—but it seems likelier than not. Tsarukyan does not seem likely to lure the Kings MMA product into the type of wild brawl that can leave him defensively open, and Dariush seems more capable of maintaining his pace and winning at least three rounds. It is a fascinating fight. The pick is Dariush via decision.

Jump To »
Dariush vs. Tsarukyan
Turner vs. Green
Font vs. Figueiredo
Brady vs. Gastelum
Soriano vs. Stoltzfus
Silva vs. Guida
The Prelims