Ilia Topuria already has his sights set on a potential showdown with Arman Tsarukyan for his next UFC lightweight title defense.
Topuria is the UFC lightweight champion and is booked to headline UFC Freedom 250 on June 14, where he will face interim titleholder Justin Gaethje in a unification bout. Gaethje secured the interim belt by defeating Paddy Pimblett in an interim lightweight title fight at UFC 324.
Looking beyond that matchup, Topuria made it clear he expects Tsarukyan to be next. “The fight with Arman is going to be a good fight,” Topuria said, before turning up the heat on the potential challenger.
“The thing is that they used to take a lot of confidence because they fight with fighters that – his last fight was against Dan Hooker. He has, I don't know, 20 losses in his professional career. It's like, bro, you never, ever, like forget about it, never ever in your entire life you faced someone like me,” Topuria said. “It's like, I'm going to embarrass you in front of everyone,” he added.
“Because with him, he thinks that he's tough, he thinks that like his wrestling is I don't know what. Like, he feels that he's an Olympic champion. Anyway, if he's the best in the world in wrestling, when it comes to the octagon, bro, I'm the king. In there, I'm the king. I do with you whatever I want to f*cking do. And I told him like I'm going to break his jaw in the first round.”
