{"id":316078,"date":"2025-11-29T08:26:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T08:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/316078\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T08:26:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T08:26:07","slug":"is-ilia-topuria-running-from-arman-tsarukyan-he-is-threatened","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/316078\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Ilia Topuria running from Arman Tsarukyan? \u2018He is threatened\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Thankfully, the 155-pound class will not be waiting around while Topuria <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/ufc-news\/406143\/max-holloway-supports-ilia-topurias-decision-to-step-away-from-ufc-i-know-the-struggle-first-hand\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">sorts through some personal issues<\/a>. Unfortunately, it will move in a direction that few expected. Despite Arman Tsarukyan\u2019s dominant victory over Dan Hooker last week at UFC Qatar <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/ufc-espn-fight-night-events-schedule-mma\/405249\/watch-ufc-qatar-video-highlights-espn-results-mma-tsarukyan-submission-hooker-topuria\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">(watch highlights)<\/a>, the elite wrestler will not be moving closer to the title. Instead, Paddy Pimblett and Justin Gaethje will <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/ufc-fight-announcements\/405965\/dana-whites-big-paramount-announcement-paddy-pimblett-vs-justin-gaethje-to-headline-ufc-324-for-interim-lightweight-title-in-las-vegas\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">fight for interim gold at UFC 324<\/a>, setting up the victor for a shot at Topuria sometime in spring or summer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">As for Tsarukyan? It\u2019s going to be a while. At best, he could get a shot after the soon-to-be-crowned interim champion, and that\u2019s not even considering the potential of some sort of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/ufc-news\/405828\/islam-makhachev-returning-lightweight-welterweight-champ-requires-very-good-offer-cut-down-again\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Topuria vs. Islam Makhachev super fight<\/a> somewhere down the line.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Former UFC champion TJ Dillashaw doesn\u2019t think this is by accident. When asked if Topuria is running from Tsarukyan, Dillashaw answered in the affirmative. He doesn\u2019t discredit Topuria\u2019s skills, but he does see Tsarukyan as a real threat to the \u201cEl Matador\u201d reign.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201dI do think so,\u201d Dillashaw said of Topuria running from Tsarukyan on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=8n510r_Lw4k\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the Jaxxon podcast<\/a>. \u201cWith that said, I think Ilia Topuria is the highest-skilled fighter in the UFC right now, but I do think he is threatened by Arman. Arman is big, he\u2019s strong, great at the weight class, his boxing is clean, great grappling \u2014 it\u2019s a tough fight for him. To where he can go to 170, maybe he doesn\u2019t get the win \u2026 it doesn\u2019t make sense. The only fight for Ilia Topuria right now is Arman.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">It\u2019s a sad state of affairs when the best possible Lightweight booking is put on the shelf indefinitely. If there\u2019s a silver lining, it\u2019s that Topuria and Tsarukyan are both young at 28 and 29 years of age respectively. Eventually, the fight will surely materialize given their respective excellence, but fight fans may be waiting for quite a while.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thankfully, the 155-pound class will not be waiting around while Topuria sorts through some personal issues. Unfortunately, it&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316079,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,40762,785,85,1396],"class_list":{"0":"post-316078","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-latest-ufc-mma-news","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-ufc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316078","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=316078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}