Arman Tsarukyan has just been booked to compete in a grappling match against fellow MMA veteran Sharaputdin Magomedov at Hype Armenia on December 30th, 2025. Both men have used their grappling skills to great success in MMA and both currently compete at the highest level in the UFC, but Tsarukyan is much further ahead in his career. Tsarukyan has been fighting in the UFC since 2019 and is currently ranked number one in their lightweight division, having beaten Charles Oliveira in a title-eliminator at UFC 300. The title-shot he won there hasn’t materialised yet, but it should be right on the horizon now.
Magomedov on the other hand is only 6 fights in to his UFC career, but he holds an impressive 16-1 professional MMA record overall. Although Magomedov is known more for his vicious knockout power, he does have plenty of skill on the ground that he’s been able to fall back on in the past. The main advantage that Magomedov will have over Tsarukyan is his size really, as he normally competes two whole weight classes above Tsarukyan. Where Tsarukyan cuts weight to make the lightweight limit of 155lbs, Magomedov does the same to make the middleweight limit of 185lbs and that’s where this match will take place.
Tsarukyan will obviously have his work cut out for him attempting to take down the bigger competitor with solid takedown-defense, but he’s grappled with opponents around the same size before. He’s also proven that his grappling doesn’t just work in MMA many times over in recent years, and he’s actually started competing in grappling pretty often lately. Most recently he was seen putting on a passing clinic and submitting Benson Henderson at ACBJJ 18, something that isn’t exactly easy to do. The smart money is on Tsarukyan winning but it will be pretty tough for him to impose his game on Magomedov regardless.
Hype Fighting announced the news that Arman Tsarukyan and Sharaputdin Magomedov were facing each other in a grappling match in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
