Tony Ferguson Says He Taught Arman Tsarukyan the Elbow That Flatlined Ruffy
Tony Ferguson claims he showed Arman Tsarukyan the elbow technique that produced the UFC 331 knockout of Mauricio Ruffy.
Tony Ferguson is 42, winless in his last nine UFC fights, and about to box at a Misfits event in Miami. None of that stopped him from taking a victory lap this week. Ferguson says he taught Arman Tsarukyan the elbow that knocked out Mauricio Ruffy in the UFC 331 co-main event last Saturday in Los Angeles.
"I remember showing Arman that elbow over in Thailand," Ferguson said. "Being able to push people to that next level and not being selfish."
The two trained together during sessions tied to Hype Fighting, and Ferguson credited a friend at Reign Training Center with originally teaching him the technique. Tsarukyan apparently took the lesson to heart. Training footage released this week showed him drilling that exact elbow repeatedly in camp, firing the same sneaky strike over and over in clinch situations.
It paid off at Crypto.com Arena. Tsarukyan was locked in a cage battle with Ruffy when the Brazilian fought for underhook control to neutralize the grappling. That left his face exposed. Tsarukyan uncorked a double elbow, the first one putting Ruffy out and the second coming from the other side to finish things off. First-round stoppage.
The win was Tsarukyan's sixth straight at lightweight and virtually guarantees him a title shot against champion Justin Gaethje, though a potential Gaethje vs. Ilia Topuria superfight could delay the timeline.
Ferguson, for his part, fights at the Misfits Boxing event in Miami on Saturday. He may not be winning UFC fights anymore, but if his protege ends up with lightweight gold, El Cucuy can claim an assist.
I love this story. Ferguson is washed as a fighter, everybody knows it, and he knows it too. But the man still has something to offer the sport. He spent years developing some of the most creative striking in MMA history, and if he passed that elbow technique to Tsarukyan during their time training together, that is a legitimate contribution.
The elbow itself was nasty. Tsarukyan set it up perfectly off the cage, waited for Ruffy to fight the underhook, and let it rip. That is not something you throw on instinct. That is drilled, practiced, studied. Training footage confirmed it.
Tsarukyan is the clear next challenger for Gaethje's lightweight belt. Six wins in a row, a highlight-reel finish, and he is only getting better. If Ferguson had even a small hand in sharpening that toolkit, good for him. Legacy does not have to mean your own wins and losses. Sometimes it means what you gave to the next generation.
