Ilia Topuria does not have a lot of respect for Arman Tsarukyan.
Last summer, Topuria moved up to 155 pounds to claim the lightweight title with a knockout win over Charles Oliveira at UFC 317. Since then, Tsarukyan has done his best to earn his shot at Topuria and the belt, but to no avail. Though Tsarukyan weighed in as the backup fighter for UFC 317, he was instead passed over when the promotion created an interim lightweight title in January, with Justin Pimblett defeating Paddy Pimblett for the right to challenge Topuria next.
In response, Tsarukyan has done a full-court press of self-promotion, competing in four RAF events and constantly showing up on the streams of famous influencers, all building his brand in the hopes of fighting for the belt.
But Topuria is not impressed by his performances.
”I’m really impressed with how dumb he is,” Topuria told Yahoo Sports. “He’s a r*tard. I don’t know, he looks like a kid. He’s a kid. His mentality. He’s dumb as f*ck. Everything I saw about him on the internet is embarrassing. F*ck Arman, who cares about him?
“The thing that I don’t like is when they play that they’re rich, and they show all that money. Bro, you’re not even rich. … The only things that you have is money, and you’re spending your father’s money, not even yours. You know what I mean. He’s a f*cking kid.”
While Tsarukyan has raised his brand substantially over the past year, it hasn’t been all good.
Tsarukyan made headlines last fall for headbutting Dan Hooker during their pre-fight faceoff at UFC Qatar, then again for assaulting Georgio Poullas after their wrestling match at RAF 6. Tsarukyan continued his antics this past weekend, as well. First, getting thrown off an American Airlines flight, and then tackling Urijah Faber onto the concrete during their RAF 8 match.
Despite, or perhaps because of these antics, a fight between Topuria and Tsarukyan has never been bigger. But for Topuria, he isn’t all that concerned about it.
“He’s not on my level,” Topuria said. “If we cross paths, I’m gonna break his jaw in the first round. What’s he going to do? He’s going to take me down? F*ck, please. Listen to me, calm down. Calm down, do your thing, go to those wrestling tournaments, do your streams, and whenever the moment arrives, just make sure to show up, and I’m going to do the rest. The little weasel.”
Since moving to lightweight, Topuria has consistently downplayed the idea of fighting Tsarukyan, instead focusing on moving to welterweight to challenge Islam Makhachev. But first, Topuria has to defend his lightweight title against Gaethje at UFC White House. And ultimately, “El Matador” says he’s happy to fight whoever the UFC decides.
“If they call me tomorrow and they tell me that Justin is injured, I will fight Arman,” Topuria said. “No problem. If they call me and they tell me Arman is injured and I have to fight [you], I’ll fight [you], no problem. I can go whoever, whenever. I’m ready for whoever.”
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