Arman Tsarukyan knew he was going to get bombarded with questions about UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria ahead of his fight against Dan Hooker so he largely downplayed the rivalry and stayed focused on the task at hand.<\/p>\n
After making quick work of Hooker with a second round submission in the UFC Qatar main event, Tsarukyan wasted no time whatsoever turning his attention towards Topuria while pushing for a showdown with him sooner than later. Topuria claimed the vacant lightweight title back in July but as of yet, he hasn\u2019t booked his first title defense as champion and Tsarukyan says the choice is clear about who deserves that opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t want to mention Ilia [too much] because I was focused on my fight,\u201d Tsarukyan said at the UFC Qatar post-fight press conference. \u201cAfter today, I\u2019m going to try to again create some crazy videos that are going to be viral and try to make a joke and to bring a lot of eyes for that fight. Because it\u2019s a media sport, too. You\u2019ve got to be a good fighter and a good showman.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my mind, I can strike with him in the long distance but when he wants to try to box me and throw his hard punch, I\u2019m going to shoot and take him down. I believe in myself and I know I can beat him so easy as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
There actually was a brief moment when Tsarukyan and Topuria were near each other during fight week but neither competitor seemed to acknowledge the other.<\/p>\n
Tsarukyan admits he didn\u2019t even realize Topuria was right there in front of him but even if they came face-to-face, he wasn\u2019t trying to engage in some sort of encounter that could have potentially led to a physical altercation.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, I didn\u2019t actually see him either,\u201d Tsarukyan said. \u201cIf I did know that it was him, I didn\u2019t realize it in the moment. But if I did know it was him, I would probably try to find him, maybe see his gaze and look in his eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut to be honest, we have nothing personal between us. This is all media, this is all hype. Obviously, we\u2019re trying to hype up the fight but specifically personal, we don\u2019t have anything. Because if we had anything, I\u2019m sure we would take care of it by now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Personal or not, Tsarukyan is convinced that Topuria is doing everything possible to avoid a fight against him, especially after watching him dismantle and finish Hooker inside two rounds on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to ask him what he thinks about my performance,\u201d Tsarukyan said about Topuria. \u201cI don\u2019t know if he\u2019s watching or not but probably not because he doesn\u2019t want to fight me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Topuria hasn\u2019t commented on the fight because he was primarily at UFC Qatar to corner and coach his brother Aleksandre Topuria in his own matchup. That said, Topuria has previously touted his lack of interest in Tsarukayan as an opponent and even teased that he might just go up to welterweight instead so he could pursue a third title with hopes he could face new UFC champion Islam Makhachev.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe should [move to welterweight],\u201d Tsarukyan said. \u201cHe said if you\u2019re going to give me Arman, I\u2019m going to leave this title. He should leave that title and give me anybody.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not looking for easy fights. I can fight with anybody and the UFC knows I\u2019m open to anybody. I don\u2019t know, he\u2019s trying to not call my name. He knows that the No. 1 [contender] and real fighter, it\u2019s me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following a long layoff between fights, Tsarukyan was understandably happy to get back to work on Saturday while taking out another top 10 ranked contender in Hooker.<\/p>\n
Ideally that victory leads him to a title shot but Tsarukyan made it clear that he\u2019s willing to do whatever it takes if it means he\u2019s getting a chance at UFC gold. That includes competing again as early as January when the UFC kicks off its new broadcast deal with Paramount with a marquee main event still to be determined for that event.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course. I can rest one week, fly to U.S. and stay there for two months,\u201d Tsarukyan said about fighting in January. \u201cIt\u2019s enough time to get ready. I didn\u2019t get any injuries, thank god, and they have to say that.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully on Tuesday, they announce that fight, me fighting in the main event with Topuria, whether it\u2019s going to be in Vegas or Los Angeles, I\u2019m ready. I\u2019ve got to take the chance and I have plenty of time to get ready.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arman Tsarukyan knew he was going to get bombarded with questions about UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria ahead…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,701,638,82,640,702],"class_list":{"0":"post-301871","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-latest-news","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-ufc","15":"tag-ufc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}