Tsarukyan hast lost his opportunity to rematch champion Islam Makhachev following his late-notice withdrawal from the main event of UFC 311 at Intuit Dome. The news was revealed by UFC CEO Dana White on Saturday night at the post-fight press conference.

The ride to UFC 311 had some last-minute bumps in the road when would-be lightweight title challenger Arman Tsarukyan suffered a back injury Friday that forced his withdrawal from a main event rematch with champion Islam Makhachev, resulting in a Renato Moicano detour on a day's notice.

UFC CEO Dana White says #1 contender Arman Tsarukyan will have to fight his way back to the title picture against Islam Makhachev.

There's a new UFC pound-for-pound No. 1 in Dana White's book. While lightweight champion Islam Makhachev officially has been ranked as the promotion's pound-for-pound best for quite some time, White has spent the

UFC president Dana White has officially given Islam Makhachev lightweight GOAT status. At the UFC 311 post-fight press conference, White claimed that Makhachev is "100 percent" the greatest lightweight the UFC has ever seen and, even somewhat shockingly, also named the Russian as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, ahead of Jon Jones.