Tony Ferguson Claims He Taught Arman Tsarukyan the Elbow That Ended Mauricio Ruffy

Speaking with Fred Talks Fighting, the former interim lightweight champion claimed he showed Arman Tsarukyan the elbow that ended Mauricio Ruffy's night at UFC 331. "I remember showing Arman that elbow over in Thailand," Ferguson said. He was careful to share the credit — the technique came from a friend at the Rain Training Center in Thailand, and his broader point was about passing knowledge on rather than hoarding it. "Being a good neighbor goes very far," he said. "Sharing is caring, for real."

The elbow in question did genuine damage. At UFC 331 on September 19 at the Crypto.com Arena, Tsarukyan dropped Ruffy with two elbows and finished him at 4:56 of the first round — four seconds from the horn. The finish earned a $100,000 Performance of the Night bonus and instantly became the division's most replayed highlight, with Tsarukyan telling Ariel Helwani days later that the UFC had promised him the next lightweight title shot.

Whether Ferguson deserves a coaching assist is one of those claims that lives in the fog of gym lore — Thailand's fight camps are full of shared techniques and fuzzy memories. But Ferguson isn't talking from nowhere. He spent years at the sharp end of the lightweight division, trained across the globe including Thailand, and remains one of the sport's most creative elbow strikers. Stranger lineages have produced real techniques.

And Ferguson is having a moment of his own. On September 26 in Miami, "El Cucuy" stopped Mahmoud Sebie in the second round on the Misfits Boxing card — a finish that continued his unlikely boxing run and gave him a combat-sports win in the same week his old division's title picture shook out.

The title picture, for the record: Justin Gaethje is sidelined for the rest of 2026 with hand injuries and hasn't decided whether to defend or retire. If Tsarukyan gets the call, he'll bring the elbows — wherever he learned them.