{"id":294913,"date":"2025-11-19T13:28:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T13:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/294913\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T13:28:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T13:28:07","slug":"tsarukyan-not-angry-at-hookers-rich-kid-insults-i-understand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/294913\/","title":{"rendered":"Tsarukyan not angry at Hooker\u2019s \u2018rich kid\u2019 insults: \u2018I understand\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arman Tsarukyan returns after a 19 month break to fight Dan Hooker in the main event of UFC Qatar<\/a> this weekend (Sat. Nov. 22, 2025). And while the two men have had plenty to say to each other in the lead-up to this fight, things were relatively chill when they finally faced off in Doha.<\/a><\/p>\n

There had been some speculation that UFC might need extra security in Qatar, but while Hooker hasn\u2019t been shy to trash talk Tsarukyan,<\/a> it\u2019s all been on the level according to \u201cAkhalkalakets.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe can talk whatever he wants, he just make me laugh,\u201d Tsarukyan said in a new interview with Shakiel Mahjouri.<\/a> \u201cHe never talked personal to me, you know? If he said something about my personal life, I would take him out from the room and talk to him. So it\u2019s just business. It\u2019s just fighting. But there are levels of trash talk, if he touched me or my family or something with bad words. Yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut about being a spoiled kid, about all that? I understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lightweight is another division with several fighters vying for the next shot at champion Ilia Topuria,<\/a> and the UFC has left the question deliberately unanswered as Justin Gaethje, Paddy Pimblett, and Arman Tsarukyan all clamor for a title fight. In Arman\u2019s mind, a win over Hooker makes him undeniable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have to give me title fight because No. 1 contender beat again a top fighter in main event,\u201d he argued. \u201cSo they already know they have to give it to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tsarukyan also addressed his relationship with the UFC, which was damaged<\/a> after he pulled out of a UFC 311 title shot against Islam Makhachev at the last minute due to a bad back.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, they wanna make me a champion because they put me on the main event and give me a good fighter,\u201d he said. \u201cSo they\u2019re trying to make me a star to fight for the title, and they treat me very well. They gave me new contract. Everything is going good. The relationship is same, and that\u2019s all.\u201d<\/p>\n

And if he smashes Dan Hooker in Qatar and the UFC calls him up about fighting Ilia Topuria in January, Tsarukyan will be ready.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I don\u2019t wanna wait,\u201d he told MMA Fighting\u2019s Mike Heck. \u201cIf I perform very well and the UFC says, \u2018Can you fight in January?\u2019 I\u2019ll take that fight right away.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arman Tsarukyan returns after a 19 month break to fight Dan Hooker in the main event of UFC…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85,1396],"class_list":{"0":"post-294913","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-mma","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-ufc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}