Mailbag: What exactly is Arman Tsarukyan doing?

Let’s be real, a UFC event happened last weekend, and one is coming up this weekend, but the talk of the town lately has been Arman Tsarukyan and his antics, the most recent being him taking Urijah Faber on an unscheduled flight to Concrete Town during RAF 8.

So, let’s talk about Tsarukyan’s nonsense and the possible return of the biggest star in MMA history.

Arman Tsarukyan’s nonsense

Between getting thrown off his flight and throwing Faber off the stage for no reason, how do you feel about Arman’s antics? Of course it’s entertaining, but there seems to be a danger from his entitlement and also lack of regard for any consequence. Has Arman and his massive persona stopped being endearing? Will his celebrity get in the way from him fulfilling his potential as a fighter or is he simply playing the game well and we should just sit back and enjoy the ride?

I’m of very, very mixed feelings about how Arman Tsarukyan is comporting himself at the moment. Because on the one hand, I think it’s been incredibly effective, but on the other hand, it’s not to my taste.

First off, we should acknowledge that everything Tsarukyan has done over the past year+ has worked. Two years ago, fans were somewhere between ambivalent and respectfully appreciative of Tsarukyan. And then he had the fiasco at UFC 311, and suddenly, the views on Tsarukyan were not nearly as kind. Tsarukyan needed an image overhaul, and he got one.

I don’t know if Tsarukyan hired a PR person or what, but Tsarukyan has been everywhere for over a year now. He is constantly competing, be it in RAF or some grappling event, and he posts as much as any influencer out there, hanging with Adin Ross, Khamzat Chimaev, and anyone else who might draw interest. He went from being a guy whom no one thought of outside of fight weeks to someone that MMA fans could not avoid. That’s the most surefire way to build your star in MMA.

And all of that is fine. Doing a full-court media press to maximize your value is simply good business and, frankly, more fighters should do it. But the nonsense is where it gets murky.

Over the past few years, Tsarukyan has:

All of those things are, objectively, bad, but only one of them (assaulting a fan — I don’t care what happens, you don’t hit fans) is like, bad bad. These others are all various levels of childish or stupid, or possibly premeditated to generate headlines.

Take the Faber situation from this past weekend: Tsarukyan has already denied it, and we can never prove it, but I’m pretty sure Tsarukyan knew exactly what he was doing, and he did it for the clicks. Go back and watch the wrestling match; it’s not competitive. Faber is too small and too old to have anything to offer Tsarukyan, which everyone knew going into it. Tsarukyan 100 percent carries Faber into the third period instead of Tech Falling him quickly in an effort to put on more of a show. And what’s a bigger show than what he did? Tsarukyan isn’t going to assault an old man like he did Poullas, because that is abject villain behavior. But he can “get carried away” and do something that goes viral nonetheless.

The others are the same way. Tsarukyan is not currently engaged in competition with anyone other than the UFC brass’s willingness to risk Ilia Topuria. So, I think that most of his antics are planned out as an attempt to maximize his fame, which in turn might get the UFC to book him into a lightweight title fight. It’s savvy career management.

All that being said, it’s also who Tsarukyan is. In pro wrestling, they say that the best characters are extreme versions of yourself, and Tsarukyan seems to be adopting that philosophy. I grew up around a lot of entitled rich kids, and Tsarukyan definitely has some of that same energy. So, why not just lean into it? People can tell when you’re putting on an act *cough* Jon Jones *cough* Colby Covington *cough* and it never lands well. Tsarukyan has simply turned the dial up to 11 on his natural personality.

Now, is this going to adversely affect his career? I doubt it. The name of the game in the UFC right now is fame, and Tsarukyan has upped his profile more than anyone else over the past year and a half. So long as all these antics aren’t interfering with his actual training, then Tsarukyan’s career should be just fine. But I guess we’ll see.

Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz 3

What do you think the odds are we get Diaz vs McGregor 3 on Netflix MVP card in the next 5 years?

The answer should be “100 percent,” but at this point, I’m extremely doubtful.

I simply do not understand what Conor McGregor is doing. Now, this has been true for me for most of McGregor’s life, because he and I simply don’t go about things in remotely the same way. But five years ago, I was pretty sure that McGregor had a good bead on what his best course of action was in the fight world, and was trying to make that happen. And now, I got nothing. Because to me, the math seems incredibly simple if you’re McGregor, and he’s not doing it.

McGregor is the biggest star in MMA history, and one of the biggest in combat sports history. He could fight any human being on Earth, and it would draw numbers. And the only place on Earth where he can do that and won’t take home the lion’s share of the money is in the UFC. Ergo, McGregor needs to leave the UFC as soon as possible. And yet, he’s not doing that.

Unless things have changed, McGregor has two fights left on his UFC deal. Since he’s not a champion, there’s no restrictive contract once those two fights are up, so to leave the promotion and head out into the free market, all he needs to do is fight two times. Boom, that’s it. Two fights and McGregor is free to pursue whatever he wants. And there are so. Many. Things. To. Pursue. Over the next few years, McGregor could make half a billion dollars in fights with Jake Paul, Mike Tyson, Manny Pacquiao, or Floyd Mayweather if he simply got out of his current contract. But he’s not doing the one thing it takes to do that.

I simply don’t understand it. If I were on McGregor’s team, I would tell him to fight whoever the UFC offered. It truly does not matter. Give them their two fights and get out. Then you can use the last few years of your athletic ability to rake in cash and take home most of it. It’s so obvious, and yet, here we are.

Back in 2021, I thought both McGregor and Diaz were on the same page with this. McGregor seemed to be trying to fight out his contract, Diaz was looking to leave the promotion, and their trilogy fight would happen somewhere else, on their terms. But that hasn’t seemed to happen, and if the rumors of a McGregor return this year are true, they seem to be coming with a newly negotiated contract, meaning “Notorious” is never running things back with Nate.

Jiri Prochazka Title Shot?

What are the odds Jiri Prochazka is still in the mix for a title fight with an interim back on the table?

Cause I’m down for Jiri vs Paulo Costa.

I think it’s unlikely Jiri is involved in an interim title fight soon, but it’s not impossible.

Right now, light heavyweight is completely up in the air. Carlos Ulberg had knee surgery, and it seems like he’s looking at a year on the shelf. I think there’s a good chance that he is forced to give up the title instead of rolling an interim belt out. And if that happens, maybe they could do Prochazka vs. Magomed Ankalaev for the vacant title, but that definitely wouldn’t feel great with both men coming off losses.

The most likely outcome to me is that Khamzat Chimaev moves up to 205, and he fights Costa for the vacant title sometime this fall. Which is obviously ludicrous, but that’s just the world we live in now. Jiri, meanwhile, probably has to fight Ankalaev because I’m not sure what else you do with either man.

But I won’t like to you, Jiri vs. Paulo would be very silly fun, and if the UFC books that fight next, I would love it.

Thanks for reading, and thank you to everyone who sent in questions. Do you have any burning questions about things at least somewhat related to combat sports? Then you’re in luck, because you can send them to me. Every Sunday (sometimes I forget and it happens on Monday), I’ll put out a call for questions on The Feed. Doesn’t matter if they’re topical or insane; just drop your questions in there and let’s have fun.