Tsarukyan denies faking an injury

"I was lying on my back and couldn't even roll over to my side. I couldn't get up until the evening and was in bed for almost 20 hours. I didn't have much left to lose, only six pounds (2.72 kg), and theoretically, we could have done it without physical activity, just with a bath and sauna, but I just couldn't move. When your back is snapped, there's nothing you can do. You can go into a fight with a knee injury, with an elbow injury, and I've done it many times, but a back injury blocks your whole body and makes you absolutely helpless."

Recall, Tsarukyan withdrew from the fight against Makhachev due to a back injury a couple days before the fight.