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Arman Tsarukyan Submits Dan Hooker In Round 2 At UFC Qatar

By FIGHT SPORTS

Tonight in the headliner for the first ever UFC event in Qatar, Arman Tsarukyan made quick of Dan Hooker, defeating the UFC veteran in the second round by way of submission.

Despite being out of the ring for 19 months prior to the bout, and Hooker’s stellar 3-fight win streak, Tsarukyan was heavily favored to win the fight in the eyes of the oddsmakers, as well as the MMA community.

While Tsarukyan’s main advantage, which essentially won him the fight in the end, was his offensive wrestling ability, he also showed an improved level of striking since he was last seen in the octagon. Hooker had strong guillotine submission attempts in both the first and second round, but neither were successful, and both led to his opponent in top position reining down significant strikes.

But, it was not the strikes from the dominant position that got Tsarukyan the win, and subsequent Performance of the Night bonus. After finding himself in full mount position, the Armenian was working to isolate an arm, and when Hooker fought to get his arm back closer to his body he immediately found himself inside Tsarukyan’s arm triangle choke. Hooker tried to fight his way out of the squeeze, but ultimately Tsarukyan was able to finish the fight in that second round.

Following the fight, Tsarukyan called for his shot at Ilia Topuria’s lightweight title.  This would be his first chance at UFC gold, except for the fight he had scheduled with Islam Makhachev this past January that he had to bow out of at the very last minute, leaving fans guessing at how his skills will fare on the championship stage.

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