Demetrious Johnson spots his lesson in Arman Tsarukyan's UFC 331 KO

Arman Tsarukyan put the clinch techniques he learned from Demetrious Johnson to devastating effect at UFC 331, knocking out Mauricio Ruffy with an elbow just 4:56 into their fight. Johnson, recognizing his own instruction in Tsarukyan's striking setup, broke down the finish on his YouTube channel.

The key to Tsarukyan's success was staying aggressive in close range rather than immediately defaulting to a wrestling attack when Ruffy was pinned against the Octagon wall. "Look, he's already here," Johnson explained. "That's one of the things I showed him. Usually people want to wrestle here, but I told him, 'You don't have to wrestle.'" Instead, Johnson had coached Tsarukyan to land strikes—like a left hook to the body or right straight to the head—while controlling his opponent's position.

Johnson emphasized that Tsarukyan must continue evolving beyond a wrestling-heavy approach, especially for his next challenge. "Those are things that he's going to need when he takes on Justin Gaethje, because Justin can push the pace, he can do a lot of damage, and he can wrestle too," the former UFC champion said. "This is the fight that needs to happen." Johnson added that Gaethje, rather than Ilia Topuria, deserves to be next in line for a title shot against Makhachev—and that Tsarukyan has earned that opportunity through his dominant performances.