Charles Oliveira thought Arman Tsarukyan went out from his D’Arce choke late in the third round at UFC 300.
Oliveira had Tsarukyan in a tight guillotine attempt in the first round, but Tsarukyan was able to get out of it. Then, in the third round, the Brazilian tried to lock in a D’Arce choke with less than a minute to go, and Oliveira thought he had it in tight.
“30 seconds [left], it was tight, one of the submissions I like the most, D’Arce choke,” Oliveira said to Canal Encarada (translation via MMAFighting). “I thought he went out, that’s why I had my tongue out, joking, you know? But I don’t know, it’s part of the game… Some things aren’t meant to be. Guillotine, I don’t lose this position. Arman was a super tough guy. I connected some strikes, had bad and good moments. Three rounds, three submissions locked in, and time ran out. It wasn’t meant to be.”
After not getting the submission win late in the third round, the fight went to the scorecards and Arman Tsarukyan beat Charles Oliveira by split decision.
“I had to finish him,” Oliveira said. “It went to the judges, and it’s their call, there’s nothing we can do. If you go back to the first round, you’ll see I tried to finish him more and they scored it for me. The second one was closer and I ended up with a triangle choke locked in, and they gave it to him. The third, he was on top, holding me there, but wasn’t doing jiu-jitsu or anything, and I finished with a choke locked in, and they still have it to him. There’s not much we can do.”
With the loss, Oliveira fell to 34-10 and one No Contest and is now 1-2 in his last three fights. The Brazilian is still near the title picture at lightweight but will need to string together multiple wins in a row now to get another crack at the belt following his loss at UFC 300.
