LOS ANGELES – Arman Tsarukyan believes Justin Gaethje is avoiding having to defend the UFC lightweight title against him.
Tsarukyan, who's long been considered the No. 1 contender at 155 pounds, picked up a first-round KO win over Mauricio Ruffy (14-3 MMA, 5-2 UFC) in the co-main event of UFC 331. It was a big win, and one that got many thinking that Tsarukyan (24-3 MMA, 11-2 UFC) should get the next crack at the belt. However, Tsarukyan doesn't think it'll be as simple as that. He believes Gaethje could play games in an effort to avoid him.
"He never tell my name, so he's he's scared, and he knows he wanted to Rufy knock me out so it means like he's trying to avoid me," Tsarukyan said at the UFC 331 post-fight press conference. "He's going to try to call
out Ilia Topuria or tell like, 'I want $15 million for Arman Tsarukyan or I'm retired,' and he's going to play around the bullsh*t game. Yeah, but you see, either he's going to fight me or either he's going to leave the title, give the opportunity for the young guys. We have a lot of contenders right now."
Tsarukyan became the No. 1 contender at 155 pounds in 2024 when he beat Charles Oliveira in a title eliminator bout at UFC 300. He did get a shot at the belt, which Islam Makhachev held at the time, but withdrew from the bout a day prior due to injury. Since, he's weighed in as a backup for a lightweight title fight and stopped Dan Hooker and Ruffy.
"Yeah, last year I was imagining the same, but, you know, I wanted to fight for the title," Tsarukyan said when asked about his overdue title shot. "I couldn't (fight), and it was a hard moment for me, you know, for my back that I had a problem. It's hard to come back, you know, but I came back and showed that I'm the number one contender, and I'm not just doing the fighting; I'm doing the social media as well. I'm working everywhere."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Arman Tsarukyan: 'Scared' Justin Gaethje trying to avoid defend UFC title against me
