Ilia Topuria has gone from downplaying a potential fight with lightweight No. 1 contender Arman Tsarukyan to fantasizing about how it will end.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to remember, but there was a point one year ago where Topuria said he\u2019d rather give up his belt<\/a> than defend it against Tsarukyan, who at the time was considered the toughest opponent with the least amount of popularity in the division. Over the last twelve months, though, Topuria has become impossible to ignore. He\u2019s on TikTok, he\u2019s on Instagram, he\u2019s in Real American Freestyle, he\u2019s on random grappling events. He\u2019s getting kicked off planes,<\/a> he\u2019s getting into near brawls all over the place.<\/a><\/p>\n He\u2019s everywhere but in the UFC cage, because he wants to fight for the title if he\u2019s in the UFC cage. Tsarukyan will play backup<\/a> for the Ilia Topuria vs. Justin Gaethje White House fight,<\/a> and Topuria isn\u2019t worried about potentially fighting the Armenian fighter.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fight with Arman is going to be a good fight,\u201d Topuria admitted to Vic Blends. \u201cThe thing is that they used to take a lot of confidence because they fight with fighters that, his last fight was against Dan Hooker. He has 20 losses in his professional career. It\u2019s like, bro, you never ever in your entire life faced someone like me. I\u2019m going to embarrass you in front of everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWith him, he thinks that he\u2019s tough, he thinks that his wrestling is I don\u2019t know what. He feels that he\u2019s an Olympic champion. Anyway, if he\u2019s the best in the world in wrestling, when it comes to the Octagon, bro? I\u2019m the king. In there, I\u2019m the king. I do with you whatever I want to f–king do. And I told him like I\u2019m going to break his jaw in the first round.\u201d<\/p>\n Topuria laid out how he saw a potential fight with Tsarukyan going.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s going to try to take me down from the beginning of the fight,\u201d Topuria said. \u201cAnd when he\u2019s going to realize that, bro, it\u2019s not that easy. It\u2019s not that easy to take these legs and take me down, especially to control me on the ground. You crazy? And then he\u2019s going to start panicking. He\u2019s going to be panicked and then when I break his jaw, bam. In front of all his crowd, all his people, his family, who gives a f–k. Bam!\u201d<\/p>\n