Arman Tsarukyan has a theory about why he and Justin Gaethje haven’t shared an Octagon, and it runs through Gaethje’s bank account. According to Sherdog, Tsarukyan says the former interim lightweight champion is holding out for an enormous payday before he’ll agree to the fight.
Tsarukyan went beyond the money. He argued that Gaethje knows exactly what kind of stylistic problem he brings, specifically once the fight goes to the ground. His implication is easy to follow. In his view, a giant number on the contract is a polite way of saying no thanks.
Sherdog’s report centers on Tsarukyan’s side of this, so for now it’s one fighter’s read on another fighter’s motives. That’s about as old a negotiating move as there is at 155 pounds, and it’s usually aimed at the matchmakers as much as the other guy.
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A crowded week at lightweight
The timing matters. Gaethje is coming off a fight with Ilia Topuria, and Topuria has spent the days since swatting at chatter about how he looked in it. Responding to comments about his eyes after the Gaethje fight, Topuria said, “The eyes never lie. Look at the eyes of the best.”
Then Alexander Volkanovski jumped in. The former featherweight champ said he wants to move up and fight Gaethje as his retirement fight, a clip that Championship Rounds posted on X. “I don’t want to hold divisions up, but I believe we could do this and not hold the divisions up,” Volkanovski said. “That’s something I’d retire for. If they want to give me that opportunity, win or lose I’d retire.”
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That same account floated a tidy sequence off the back of it: Gaethje vs. Volkanovski as a send-off, followed by Topuria vs. Tsarukyan for the undisputed lightweight title. That’s a fan account’s wish list, not a booking, but you can see why it caught on.
Tsarukyan, for his part, isn’t ducking Volkanovski either. Asked by Helen Yee whether he’d fight Volk for the lightweight title, he didn’t hedge. “Yeah, I would fight him. He’s old, bad chin. He’s a tough opponent, but he’s a little bit old now. For me, it’s a perfect fight,” Tsarukyan said.
He also spent part of the weekend in Barcelona, where he linked up with Khabib Nurmagomedov at El Clasico. When you’re selling yourself as the grappling nightmare nobody wants, getting photographed next to Khabib doesn’t hurt the brand.
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Quick take
Tsarukyan answers questions straight, and I’ll always take that over a press release. But Gaethje asking to get paid isn’t exactly a confession. He’s a former interim champ who has spent years in fights that leave marks, and a guy at that stage of his career is entitled to ask what a high-risk, low-reward wrestling matchup is worth to him. The bigger problem for Tsarukyan is that Volkanovski just offered Gaethje a fight that probably pays more and carries less risk of spending 15 minutes underneath someone. If I’m Gaethje’s manager, that Volkanovski clip is already printed out and sitting on the negotiating table.
