{"id":438866,"date":"2026-01-28T15:22:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T15:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/438866\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T15:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T15:22:08","slug":"alexander-volkanovski-is-open-to-a-possible-arman-tsarukyan-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/438866\/","title":{"rendered":"Alexander Volkanovski is open to a possible Arman Tsarukyan fight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Alexander Volkanovski has said he is open to a possible clash with Arman Tsarukyan if he makes the move down to featherweight.<\/p>\n<p>This weekend, Alexander Volkanovski <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/alex-volkanovski\/ufc-325-pro-fighters-make-their-picks-for-alexander-volkanovski-vs-diego-lopes-2-title-fight\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">will defend<\/a> his UFC featherweight championship in the main event of UFC 325. He will defend the strap against Diego Lopes, the same man who he beat to win the strap last year. The 37-year-old is considered by many to be the favorite, but you never know what someone like Lopes could have up his sleeve.<\/p>\n<p>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/ufc\/diego-lopes-thinks-fans-wouldve-complained-even-if-he-didnt-get-ufc-325-title-rematch\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Diego Lopes thinks fans would\u2019ve complained even if he didn\u2019t get UFC 325 title rematch<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Outside of Lopes, Volkanovski will have plenty of other foes to try and overcome if he decides to keep competing at 145 pounds beyond this contest. That includes Movsar Evloev and Lerone Murphy, both of whom will be feeling pretty surprised that they didn\u2019t get the call for UFC 325.<\/p>\n<p>In a recent interview, Volkanovski even responded to rumblings that Arman Tsarukyan could head down to featherweight if he has to keep waiting for an opportunity at lightweight.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Volkanovski is open to Tsarukyan clash<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love challenges,\u201d Volkanovski told reporters at UFC 325 media day (h\/t TheMacLife). \u201cHe would obviously be a tough challenge. If he could get down there, that would be definitely a tough challenge. Same with Movsar (Evloev). \u2026 Even the wrestling side of things, I would love that. Because for the legacy, you can talk about legacy. You got guys like Movsar, undefeated \u2013 so, later. Obviously, I\u2019ve got a job to do this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhatever comes my way, I\u2019ll be happy,\u201d Volkanovski said. \u201cBut Movsar, Lerone (Murphy) \u2013 incredible records, or even Arman if he was to come down, yeah, that\u2019s a challenge. So that\u2019ll be definitely something. I feel like my takedown defense is pretty solid, so that\u2019ll definitely be a fun one.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Quotes via <a href=\"https:\/\/mmajunkie-eu.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/ufc\/2026\/01\/27\/alexander-volkanovski-reacts-to-idea-of-arman-tsarukyan-moving-to-145\/88388413007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">MMA Junkie<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Who would you back in this fight? Let us know in the comments, BJPENN Nation!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alexander Volkanovski has said he is open to a possible clash with Arman Tsarukyan if he makes the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438867,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,638,82],"class_list":["post-438866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438866","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=438866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}