{"id":619105,"date":"2026-04-20T12:05:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T12:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/619105\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T12:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T12:05:08","slug":"tsarukyan-ready-to-step-in-at-ufc-white-house-yes-ill-be-backup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/619105\/","title":{"rendered":"Tsarukyan ready to step in at UFC White House: \u2018Yes, I\u2019ll be backup\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following his 13-1 blowout of Urijah Faber at RAF08,<\/a> Arman Tsarukyan has laid out his plans for the next two months. He\u2019s hoping they\u2019re as busy as the last.<\/p>\n

Tsarukyan hasn\u2019t fought in the UFC since a November 2025 win over Dan Hooker<\/a> in Qatar, but he\u2019s been staying busy with grappling matches around the world. Faber was his 7th bout since then, and he\u2019d like to make it 8 before jumping in on the White House card.<\/p>\n

Tsarukyan laid out his May schedule in a new video from Adam Zubayraev, and it involves helping his training partners prepare for fights. He\u2019s also hoping Colby Covington accepts an Real American Freestyle match as quickly as he accepted a face-off opportunity at RAF08.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst Khamzat [fights Strickland on May 9th] and then David [Mgoyan fights on May 16th],\u201d Tsarukyan said. \u201cThen, if on the 30th they offer me a match with Colby Covington, I think it would be big. With Colby Covington I think it would be a strong media match-up because when it comes to talking trash, I won\u2019t stay on the sidelines either. [There\u2019ll be] some interesting set-ups.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter that, the White House. I\u2019ll be waiting for the White House to see how Ilia Topuria performs,\u201d he said. \u201cYes, I\u2019ll be a backup. I\u2019ll stay on a diet starting in May. If something happens, if someone gets injured, I can step in on a week or two\u2019s notice. I\u2019d want Justin Gaethje to pull out. Gaethje pulls out, I fight Topuria, take the belt, and kick him out of the UFC. That\u2019s my goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c[Fight Covington for RAF] on the 30th, before the White House, then win the title at the White House,\u201d he summarized.<\/p>\n

Arman has been busy, and while his social media numbers are climbing he\u2019s also been involved in enough controversies that the UFC undoubtedly still sees him as a wild card and a liability. He punched a fan<\/a> in the crowd at UFC 300, broke Dan Hooker\u2019s nose<\/a> with a headbutt the day before their main event in Qatar, and he launched aging legend Urijah Faber off the mats and onto concrete<\/a> at RAF08.<\/p>\n

Sometimes it feels like one step forward, two steps back. But Tsarukyan insists the social media moments will continue until he\u2019s the best lightweight fighter in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll stop when I have a title in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and I defend it at least five times,\u201d he declared. \u201cI\u2019ll promote myself as much as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following his 13-1 blowout of Urijah Faber at RAF08, Arman Tsarukyan has laid out his plans for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619106,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85,1396,125620],"class_list":{"0":"post-619105","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","14":"tag-ufc-white-house-2026"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619105","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=619105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}