Top lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan solidified his place at the top of the 155-pound division with a second-round submission win over No. 6 ranked Dan Hooker in the UFC Qatar main event last Saturday.
Tsarukyan earned a ‘Performance of the Night’ bonus for the finish and believes he also punched his ticket to a title shot against champion Ilia Topuria. But the fight promotion may have other plans. Topuria and No. 5 ranked Paddy Pimblett have history and a storyline.
“It’s 100 percent got to be me. No way they can give Paddy Pimblett that fight,” Tsarukyan said during an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show. “Everybody going to laugh at them because I’m the No. 1 contender. I proved it again. What do they want from me, you know? I went there, performed, just destroy Dan Hooker, and they want to put the guy who is fake making rank?”
Pimblett and Topuria’s feud dates back years. It began from online comments by Pimblett about Topuria’s countrymen. That led to a physical altercation at the fighter hotel in London during UFC Fight Night 204 fight week in March 2022. The two nearly came to blows at the UFC 282 Press Conference later that year. Storylines often times sell fights, but Tsarukyan scoffed at the thought of Pimblett deserving a title shot.
Related: Paddy Pimblett warns Arman Tsarukyan and Ilia Topuria, takes aim at ‘proper b*tch’ Justin Gaethje
“How you can beat like a No. 12, or No. 13 and became No. 5? I was beating everybody in our division,” Tsarukyan said. “I was on a five or six win streak to get in the Top 15. This guy just beats six people and like he’s No. 5,” Tsarukyan said. “Hopefully it’s a title fight next.”
“It has to be me. Whatever they want to do. Their plan was maybe that I’m going to struggle with Dan Hooker and they could push me on the back and say, ‘hey listen, you barely won (against) Dan Hooker, you’ve got to wait.’ But now they cannot say anything because the No. 1 contender is here. I showed up in Qatar to show everybody a masterclass. Hopefully it’s me,” Tsarukyan continued. “Not hopefully. It’s supposed to be me.”
