Arman Tsarukyan says Justin Gaethje is ducking him. Heavy.com reported the accusation Monday. The exact wording of the post wasn’t available in what we reviewed, so you’ll get the gist here and no quotation marks. It’s a claim from a guy who wants a fight. Gaethje’s camp hasn’t answered it in anything we’ve seen, and nothing shows he’s turned down a Tsarukyan booking.
The timing makes sense. Tsarukyan (24-3) sits No. 2 at lightweight in the Knockout Daily rankings and No. 13 on the UFC’s pound-for-pound list. He fights out of American Top Team, and his last MMA outing was September 19. Gaethje (28-5) is No. 1. His Wikipedia page lists him as the current UFC lightweight champion and a former BMF titleholder, and he became the oldest man to win the UFC lightweight belt when he did it at 37. He last fought June 14.
So this is the top contender poking the champ, which is the oldest move in the book. I’d also point out that “ducking” gets thrown around about as carefully as a 12-leg parlay of favorites.
View post on X
Tsarukyan has stayed busy
Tsarukyan hasn’t been sitting still. On October 24 he beat Dillon Danis 10-0 in a wrestling match at RAF 14, then stepped on him afterward, per RAF footage shared by Championship Rounds. Danis reportedly had a rough weight cut to get there, according to Happy Punch. A day later Tsarukyan showed up at El Clasico in Barcelona with Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Volkanovski muddies the line
Here’s Tsarukyan’s problem. He isn’t the only one asking for Gaethje. Alexander Volkanovski said this weekend he’d move up for a retirement fight against the champion.
View post on X
“That’s something I’d retire for. If they want to give me that opportunity, win or lose I’d retire,” Volkanovski said, per Championship Rounds.
He also argued the matchup wouldn’t freeze either division: “I don’t want to hold divisions up, but I believe we could do this and not hold the divisions up.”
A farewell fight with a legend sells itself. A five-round date with a 29-year-old grappler who beat a celebrity wrestler 10-0 and stood on him doesn’t, at least from the champion’s chair. That’s business logic, and it isn’t proof of a duck. Ilia Topuria is in the mix too, still trading words about his eyes after his Gaethje fight.
View post on X
If the UFC books Volkanovski, expect Tsarukyan’s posts to get louder. If it books Tsarukyan, he’d be the side I’d want to see priced first.
