Arman Tsarukyan held his spot as the UFC’s No. 1 lightweight contender with a submission win over Dan Hooker in the main event of a UFC Fight Night event Saturday in Qatar.
Tsarukyan had not fought in 19 months but looked sharp in his return to the Octagon.
Following a first round that featured both fighters landing some decent strikes, Tsarukyan utilized his wrestling and grappling advantage by gaining a dominant position on the ground and eventually locking in an arm-triangle choke that resulted in Hooker tapping out.
Tsarukyan called for a title shot against reigning titleholder Ilia Topuria next and indicated he could be ready for that matchup as early as January.
The 29-year-old from Armenia was scheduled to challenge former lightweight champion Islam Makhachev in an anticipated title bout at UFC 311 in January, however Tsarukyan withdrew from the bout on the eve of the event with what he said was a back injury he sustained while cutting weight.
After that withdrawal, despite him remaining the division’s top contender, Tsarukyan had not been in the good graces of the organization and UFC president Dana White said at the time: “He’s not getting (the next) title shot, so that means he’s going to have to fight his way back to the title.” Tsarukyan weighed in as the official backup fighter for Topuria’s title fight with Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 in late June – partly as a way to gain favour with the organization – but his services were ultimately not required.
Tsarukyan had not fought since a three-round decision win over Oliveira at UFC 300 in April of 2024. He has now gone 10-1 over his past 11 fights, including knockout victories over ranked lightweights Beneil Dariush and Joel Alvarez.
It had been a while since fight fans had seen Hooker as well. The 35-year-old from New Zealand’s most recent appearance was a three-round split decision win over Mateusz Gamrot 15 months ago. Hooker had been scheduled to face Justin Gaethje in March at UFC 313, however less than two weeks before that anticipated matchup Hooker was forced to withdraw due to a fractured hand.
Saturday’s card was the third career UFC main event for both Tsarukyan and Hooker. Tsarukyan previously headlined Fight Night cards opposite Gamrot in 2022 and against Dariush in 2023. It was Hooker’s first main event since his five-round classic brawl with Dustin Poirier from 2020.
While the fight itself was not chippy, things got heated at Friday's ceremonial weigh-in as Tsarukyan headbutted Hooker.
In the co-main event, Ian Machado Garry moved one step closer to earning a welterweight title shot with a unanimous decision win over former 170-pound champion Belal Muhammad. Machado Garry proceeded to call out new welterweight champion Islam Makhachev following the win.
In other action, Myktybek Orolbai put Jack Hermansson to sleep with a huge right hand in the first round of their welterweight matchup. Hermansson was a longtime 185-pound contender making his 170-pound debut against a fighter who has regularly competed at 155 pounds.
Orolbai was moving back up to the welterweight division for the first time in two years after the 27-year-old from Kyrgyzstan failed to make weight in his two most recent appearances. He lost a split decision to Mateusz Rebecki at a 160-pound catchweight in what ended up being a 2024 Fight of the Year candidate then submitted UFC newcomer Tofiq Musayev in 76 seconds in June in a 165-pound catchweight bout.
This was the second consecutive devastating knockout loss for Hermansson. The 37-year-old Swedish-Norwegian veteran was coming off a brutal KO loss to Gregory Rodrigues in June.
Flyweight star Kyoji Horiguchi made a triumphant return to the UFC by kicking off the main card with a second-round knockout of Russia’s Tagir Ulanbekov who fell to 6-2 in the UFC.
It was Horiguchi’s first fight in the UFC in nine years. The 35-year-old from Japan went 7-1 in the UFC from 2013 to 2016 with his only loss being to former longtime 125-pound champion Demetrious Johnson in their UFC 186 main event title fight. Horiguchi became a Bellator MMA and RIZIN champion during his time outside the UFC and is unbeaten in his past seven fights since 2022.
Volkan Oezdemir added another highlight-reel knockout win to his résumé, sparking Alonzo Menifield out cold early in the first round of thanks to a flurry of strikes along the cage.
Oezdemir rebounded from a decision loss to Carlos Ulberg 12 months ago. The 36-year-old from Switzerland has finished his opponent in the opening round in three of his past four outings and will maintain his spot in the top 10 of the division. A one-time title challenger in the light-heavyweight division, Oezdemir entered the weekend ranked No. 9 at 205 pounds.
Waldo Cortes-Acosta’s whirlwind 2025 continued as the top-10 heavyweight contender improved to 4-1 on the year and picked up his second knockout win of November.
Dominican Republic’s Cortes-Acosta knocked out Bahrain’s Shamil Gaziev in just 82 seconds, flattening his opponent with a flush overhand right.
Cortes-Acosta was a late addition to the card, replacing Serghei Spivac on just a couple days’ notice, and following the win asked to stay busy and get a spot on the upcoming Dec. 13 Fight Night card scheduled for the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
The 34-year-old was coming off a controversial first-round knockout win over Ante Delija at the beginning of the month. Initially that fight was waved off as a technical knockout win for Delija, however after a review it was determined an inadvertent eye poke preceded the finishing sequence and the fight was controversially allowed to continue. Cortes-Acosta then landed a knockout punch immediately after the action resumed.
Cortes-Acosta, the No. 6 contender, is 7-1 in his past eight fights with his only loss since 2023 being a decision to No. 3-ranked heavyweight contender Sergei Pavlovich in August. Cortes-Acosta also earned a close decision over Spivac in June and began his campaign with a knockout of Ryan Spann in March.
This event was the UFC’s first in Qatar.
