Tsarukyan confirmed that he twice refused a rematch with Makhachev

"There was one time. I was supposed to fight Alvarez, four or five days before the fight. I get a call saying Dariusz got off and got injured. They ask, "Do you want to fight Islam?" I say no, because I've been training under the fighter I'm going to attack the fight against. Plus he's right-handed and Islam is left-handed.

I realized that I wanted a full camp in front of Makhachev. I was offered this fight seven weeks in advance, but I turned it down, what to speak of on three days notice? There were no more such offers."