Arman Tsarukyan is sitting on a UFC lightweight No. 1 contender spot while turning his attention to a wrestling showdown with Urijah Faber at RAF 8 in Philadelphia on April 18.
Tsarukyan was previously slated to challenge Islam Makhachev for the UFC lightweight title at UFC 311, but that bout fell apart 15 months ago when he withdrew due to injury a day before the event. He returned at UFC Qatar, where he defeated Dan Hooker.
Since then, Makhachev has vacated the lightweight belt and moved to welterweight, where he defeated Jack Della Maddalena to become a champion in a second division. Tsarukyan, meanwhile, remains focused on finally securing his own title opportunity.
“Everybody’s just going to see me, when they see me they think about UFC because I’m going to be the face of UFC. Just I need a title to show up,” Tsarukyan said.
UFC CEO Dana White has publicly stated he has issues with Tsarukyan, citing “there’s a lot of different reasons,” including altercations outside of competition. Tsarukyan believes some concerns extend to what happens if he wins the belt.
“They worry about that I’m going to get the title and leave UFC,” he said, before clarifying his stance on his future with the promotion and his ambitions at 155 pounds: “I want to be a champion, I want to break records in our lightweight division, defend as much as possible. So Islam did four, I want to do five or six, and then we’ll see.”
For now, Tsarukyan stays active and says he’s ready if the UFC wants him to compete again before a title shot: “If they tell me, ‘OK, Arman, you’ve got to fight one more time,’ OK, I’ll fight. I’ll fight anybody… I ask for anybody in our division who is in top 5, top 6.”
