The beef between Arman Tsarukyan and Paddy Pimblett rages on.
For quite some time now, the two lightweight contenders have been beefing, and that animosity has only gathered new steam in the past month. At UFC Qatar, Arman Tsarukyan dominated Dan Hooker to, ostensibly, set himself up as the top contender at lightweight.
However, just a few days after that victory, the UFC announced that Pimblett will face Justin Gaethje in an interim lightweight title fight at UFC 324 in January, once again leaving Tsarukyan out in the cold. Pimblett seems to have taken great joy in the opportunity, outlining exactly why he jumped over Tsarukyan.
“People talk about my last three wins, and yeah, Tony Ferguson was his way out, but Dariush looks about 65,” Pimblett told Full Send MMA. “He’s got a full head of grey hair, he beat Dariush. He didn’t beat Charles Oliveira; a lot of people didn’t think he won that fight. On his way out of the cage, he punched a fan, got banned. The UFC probably had to pay a huge f*cking fee for the fella not to sue them.
“He then got his title shot and ‘Oh, I’ve got a bad back!’ He f*cking got beat by back pain when really he probably just couldn’t make weight. Sits out for f*cking 11 months, gets offered a fight against Gamrot and says no. If I got offered a fight against someone who has beaten me, I’d be taking that fight immediately. Then, fights Dan Hooker, headbutts him at the weigh-in, nearly ruined another main event. You can understand why he’s not in that position.
“And as much as I like Dan Hooker, he’s shit. He can’t grapple to save his life. He couldn’t grapple if hs mom’s life depended on it. If I had that guillotine wrapped up on Arman, he’s going unconscious. If Dan Hooker is nearly guillotining you, you’re shit at jits.”
Of course, that merited a response from Tsarukyan, who fired back at Pimblett on social media with a dire warning for “The Baddy” should they ever fight.
“I could talk about how you only fight senior citizens once a year, or how the UFC keeps giving you the easy road to that paper belt. But I’ll say just one thing: if you ever find the courage to step into the octagon with me, there’s only one outcome, the one you fear the most, where everyone finally sees you’re a fraud.
“You can keep running your mouth. Just make sure you’re not the one shitting your pants in January.
“Like I said, the only thing that matters is when the octagon door closes. I’ll be the one walking out with my hand raised and you’ll be the one getting helped out of the cage.”
UFC 324 takes place on Jan. 24 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
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