Arman Tsarukyan says the criticism aimed at Sam Calavitta after Khamzat Chimaev’s UFC 328 loss to Sean Strickland is missing a key part of the story.
Chimaev lost the UFC middleweight title to Strickland last month, taking his first professional MMA defeat and dropping to 15-1. The post-fight conversation quickly moved toward his conditioning, his weight cut, and the work he did at The Treigning Lab, also known as the Garage, where Calavitta works with fighters across several sports.
Tsarukyan trained at the same California facility with Chimaev and Khalil Rountree. He pushed back on the idea that Calavitta’s strength and conditioning program should carry the blame, saying the reaction changed only after Chimaev lost.
“When he wins everybody says, ‘Oh yeah, [coach] did a good job.’ He lost, everyone is saying he’s doing the wrong things and that they overtrained,” Tsarukyan said on The Ariel Helwani Show. “But Khamzat’s last training session in the garage was only 15-20 minutes. At this level, you’re a professional. You gotta to control yourself. If you feel tired, just skip the training.”
Watch the clip below:
Arman Tsarukyan pushes back on criticism of strength and conditioning coach Sam Calavitta following Khamzat Chimaev's loss:
"Because he lost, everyone is saying he's doing the wrong things and that he overtrained. But Khamzat's last training session in the garage was only 15-20… pic.twitter.com/tmOlg0dxWc
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) June 1, 2026
Tsarukyan Says Elite Fighters Have To Control Their Own Limits
Tsarukyan put the responsibility back on the athlete. His view is that Chimaev, as a championship-level fighter, had to recognize when his body needed a break before UFC 328.
Chimaev’s loss became a bigger discussion because of how the fight changed after the early exchanges. He looked less sharp after a second-round takedown attempt and could not keep the same wrestling pressure that made him one of the most feared fighters in the UFC. Questions about his weight cut also followed the result, with former UFC bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw suggesting Chimaev’s cut went wrong after he moved that responsibility away from Calavitta.
Tsarukyan has his own high-level camp experience behind the comment. The Armenian lightweight is 23-3, ranked near the top of the UFC lightweight division, and has built his run on wrestling, pace, and physical pressure. His own position is that professional fighters cannot treat training as something that only happens to them.
Calavitta has taken heat because fans saw Chimaev and other fighters go through demanding sessions at the Garage before UFC 328. Tsarukyan’s response is that Chimaev’s final session there lasted only 15-20 minutes, which makes the overtraining criticism harder to pin on one coach. His view is simple: at championship level, the athlete has to speak up when his body needs a break.
