Ilia Topuria is coming off a loss, and he is somehow handing out more smoke than ever. In an interview with Spanish outlet ABC and reporter KOlmeneroMMA, later clipped by Championship Rounds on X, Topuria said Arman Tsarukyan would fall apart if the two ever shared an Octagon, and he used Movsar Evloev’s fight with Alexander Volkanovski as the blueprint.
“Arman is going to be pure panic. Like the Movsar fight with Volk. The same thing,” Topuria said.
His case is simple. Topuria argued that Tsarukyan’s reputation comes from getting fights to the mat and parking in good spots, and that the work he does once he’s down there is the weak link. “Arman doesn’t stand out for his ground game. He stands out for his takedowns and the dominant positions he looks for,” he said. Then he turned to Evloev, saying the featherweight was used to dragging people down and catching his breath in the clinch, and that against Volkanovski none of it worked. “And what happened? Panic, and he gave up.”
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So yes, Movsar Evloev wasn’t even part of the conversation and still walked out with a black eye.
Topuria also leaned on his own résumé to explain why he thinks Tsarukyan’s wrestling wouldn’t scare him. “I’ve been world champion in two divisions. I’ve been in four world title fights. I grew up on the ground. I grew up wrestling. It’s my life.”
Where Topuria Stands Right Now
The timing is the wild part. This all comes right after Topuria’s loss to Justin Gaethje, a fight his brother stopped. Topuria has been blunt about that, telling Adam Catterall he’s grateful: “If he wouldn’t stop the fight, probably I wouldn’t be able to fight again in my life.”
He isn’t exactly in a humble phase, though. In the same ABC session he dismissed Gaethje as a nobody and said that he and the UFC would decide what’s next, with Gaethje simply going along with it. He also claimed that if he fights Paddy, even Gaethje as champion would be stuck in the co-main event.
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The Paddy fight appears to be the actual plan. In a clip posted by FightLuck, Topuria laid it out plainly.
“I’m coming back in April. Paddy, Paddy, Paddy.”
In that same clip, he floated the idea of walking away once that fight is done.
“I’ve achieved everything, and after this fight, what else? Maybe I’ll even retire.”
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Dana White told Jim Rome that the UFC is working on Topuria’s return and expects it in early 2027, so April fits that window.
Quick Take
I love this. A guy who just lost, whose brother had to save him from himself, is out here diagnosing other people’s panic attacks. That’s villain energy, and I’ll take it every time over a fighter mumbling the usual one-fight-at-a-time stuff. Topuria’s read on Tsarukyan has a real point buried in the trash talk, because a wrestler who can’t land the shot has to find a Plan B live on TV, and we’ve all watched guys look lost doing that. Still, nobody has booked Topuria against Arman. The only fight on his calendar lives in his own head, against Paddy in April, and until he wins again, every scouting report he hands out comes with an asterisk the size of Gaethje’s right hand.
