{"id":45173,"date":"2025-08-05T11:11:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T11:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/45173\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T11:11:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T11:11:11","slug":"paddy-pimblett-could-miss-out-on-title-shot-as-ufc-rival-declares-he-is-likely-to-fight-ilia-topuria-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/45173\/","title":{"rendered":"Paddy Pimblett could miss out on title shot as UFC rival declares he is likely to fight Ilia Topuria next"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arman Tsarukyan is ’70 per cent’ confident that he will get the next lightweight title shot over Paddy Pimblett.<\/p>\n

The Liverpudlian has been relentlessly campaigning for a fight with newly minted 155lbs champion and bitter rival Ilia Topuria<\/a> since he picked up the belt in June.<\/p>\n

\"Topuria<\/a><\/p>\n

2<\/p>\n

Topuria traded verbal blows with Pimblett after his victory before shoving the LiverpudlianCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

In the immediate aftermath of Topuria’s devastating first-round knockout win over Charles Oliveira<\/a>, Pimblett stormed the cage to confront the Spaniard<\/a> and stake his claim to the belt.<\/p>\n

However, he may be forced to wait in line, judging from Tsarukyan’s recent comments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m number one in the rankings (aside from Islam Makhachev), but the UFC<\/a> can do whatever they want,\u201d said Tsarukyan <\/p>\n

\u201cEven if I won\u2019t get a title shot next, if I keep winning, they won\u2019t have a choice but to give me one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there is a 70 per cent chance I\u2019ll fight Topuria next.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey didn\u2019t even offer me anyone else. We\u2019re only negotiating about a title fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time of writing, Tsarukyan is ranked No.2 at lightweight behind former champion Islam Makhachev, who recently left the division in pursuit of the welterweight crown.<\/p>\n

The Armenian had a 155lbs title fight with Makhachev fall through in January due to illness, and recently made weight as the back-up fighter for Topuria vs Oliveira.<\/a><\/p>\n

It therefore seems a no-brainer that he would be next in line to face ‘El Matador’ ahead of Pimblett, who currently occupies the No.9 spot in the UFC ratings.<\/p>\n

MMA<\/a> analyst and three-time UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen<\/a> certainly thinks so and has gone as far as to suggest that Topuria vs Tsarukyan is guaranteed to happen next.<\/p>\n

\"Hooker<\/a><\/p>\n

2<\/p>\n

Hooker believes Tsarukyan is likely to be his next opponentCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to officially give you some of the worst-kept secret matchups going on in MMA right now, Ilia Topuria is fighting Arman Tsarukyan, and yes, I am telling you that,\u201d Sonnen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat fight is done, just so you understand…(Topuria is) not denying the fight, he has his approach that he has found to build fights.”<\/p>\n

Sonnen is referring to Topuria recently insisting he would never give Tsarukyan a title shot during a live stream with the Nelk Boys.<\/p>\n

“If I’m the world champion, I’m never giving him a chance\u00a0[to fight for the title]. <\/p>\n

“I would be like, \u2018Listen, if that\u2019s the case, take my belt.\u2019 I don\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tsarukyan fired back at Topuria’s comments by saying: “Imagine calling yourself a champion, but you\u2019re already looking for a way out.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cYou can vacate it, or I\u2019ll take it. Either way, it\u2019s mine.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, it now appears that everything is moving in the right direction for the fight to get over the line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arman Tsarukyan is ’70 per cent’ confident that he will get the next lightweight title shot over Paddy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[17501,64,63,786,17499,785,9226,17498,85,1396],"class_list":{"0":"post-45173","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-arman-tsarukyan","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-fighting","12":"tag-ilia-topuria","13":"tag-mma","14":"tag-mma-news","15":"tag-paddy-pimblett","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-ufc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45173","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=45173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}