Tsarukyan backs coach Calavitta after Chimaev's shock UFC 328 title loss to Strickland

Arman Tsarukyan has publicly defended coach Sam Calavitta against accusations that overtraining contributed to Khamzat Chimaev’s middleweight title loss against Sean Strickland at UFC 328 last month. Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, Tsarukyan (23-3) argued that Chimaev’s final session at The Treigning Lab — known as the Garage — in California lasted no more than 15-20 minutes, pushing back on the narrative that Calavitta’s demanding programme cost Chimaev the belt.

Chimaev (15-1) suffered his first professional loss in what was widely regarded as one of the biggest upsets in recent UFC history. The Chechen-Swedish fighter appeared visibly fatigued following a sloppy takedown attempt in the second round and was unable to impose his trademark wrestling dominance for the remainder of the fight. A troubled weight cut added further scrutiny, with some observers accusing Chimaev of missing weight entirely.

Calavitta, who oversees strength and conditioning at the Garage, faced immediate backlash from fans and pundits who claimed his training methods — not specifically tailored to MMA — had left Chimaev depleted heading into fight night. Tsarukyan, who trained alongside Chimaev in camp, rejected that framing entirely.

“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. “But Khamzat’s last training session in the garage was only 15-20 minutes. At this level, you’re a professional. You gotta control yourself. If you feel tired, just skip the training.”

Tsarukyan’s position is that elite athletes bear personal responsibility for managing their own workloads, and that Calavitta cannot be held accountable for decisions Chimaev made independently.

Former UFC bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw, also a Calavitta athlete, added a separate dimension to the weight-cut debate. Dillashaw suggested Chimaev’s cut went wrong because he delegated that responsibility to someone outside Calavitta’s team — implying the coach was not involved in the process that many believe left Chimaev compromised on fight night.

The fallout from UFC 328 continues to generate debate about training camp structure and athlete management at the highest level of the sport, with Chimaev yet to publicly address the specific claims made by either Tsarukyan or Dillashaw.