Dan Hooker Reveals Rumored Back Injury for Arman Tsarukyan Before UFC Qatar Clash
Dan Hooker is all set to lock horns with Arman Tsarukyan this weekend at UFC Qatar. Both Hooker and Tsarukyan are coming out of injuries. ‘The Hangman’ broke his hand earlier this year while sparring and had to pull out of the Justin Gaethje fight. On the other hand, Arman Tsarukyan injured his back while cutting weight before UFC 311 and was not able to fight champion Islam Makhachev.
Ahead of this weekend’s fight night, ‘The Hangman’ appeared in an interview with The Mac Life. During the sit-down, he revealed that a massage therapist told Hooker’s friend that she saw Tsarukyan earlier and could not apply pressure on his back because his back was injured.
Hooker said:
“My friend went down to [Four Seasons hotel] and got a massage and got to talk to the lady massaging, who said, ‘I massaged [Arman Tsarukyan]. I could not go hard on his back.’ His back is f**ked… I don’t think it’s a real secret his back is f**ked… If someone gets back issues it’s a pretty constant.”
Check out Dan Hooker’s comments below (1:11):
However, the good news for fight fans is that Tsarukyan and Hooker have both made weight for the fight, and with that, the main event of UFC Qatar is now official.
Nina-Marie Daniele Attempts Arman Tsarukyan’s Back-Flexibility Exercise
Nina-Marie Daniele re-posted a video of Arman Tsarukyan performing a flexibility exercise on Instagram, which many previously believed was the cause of his injury before the Islam Makhachev bout.
Daniele was not able to perform the same and said:
“We are not doing that again.”
Tsarukyan reacted to the clip:
“😂😂😂😂💣”
Merab Dvalishvili also had a similar reaction:
“😂”
Check out the post and reactions below:
For context, several fans blamed Daniele for Tsarukyan’s withdrawal from UFC 311, claiming the Armenian was hurt while filming the fight vlog with the MMA reporter. But it quickly became apparent that his injury was caused by overtraining and the weight cut.
