Arman Tsarukyan knows why Paddy Pimblett is set to fight for a title at UFC 324.
“The Baddy” takes on Justin Gaethje in the Jan. 24 main event, with an interim lightweight title on the line, and Tsarukyan believes the matchup is a clear case of UFC officials wanting to push Pimblett as a star. Tsarukyan is currently the No. 1 contender at 155 pounds, but was seemingly passed over in favor of Gaethje vs. Pimblett, with the winner of that fight expected to face undisputed champion Ilia Topuria when he returns from a personal hiatus.
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Following his win over Lance Palmer at RAF 5 in Sunrise, Fla., Tsarukyan spoke to reporters backstage and offered his theory on why Pimblett is fighting for a championship instead of him.
“Everybody knows, Paddy Pimblett, they want to make him a champion because it’s his chance to be a champion,” Tsarukyan said. “They know if they’re going to put me against him, he’s going to lose and the star is going to be gone. Gaethje is easy money for him. He’s old, he has maybe one or two fights left. So that’s why they give him interim title because he’s not going to be a real champion, because there’s Ilia Topuria and I never think he can beat Ilia Topuria.”
Tsarukyan and Pimblett have made their disdain for one another clear, with the two frequently taking shots at each other in interviews. The feud has reached the point where Pimblett said in a recent interview he hoped Tsarukyan would suffer an injury in his RAF match.
“Yeah, he wants me to get hurt because I’m not going to fight him,” Tsarukyan said when asked about the comment. “I’m a nightmare for him and he knows that if we’re going to fight, he’s going to lose. He’s going to try not to fight me his whole life. I hope that Justin Gaethje is going to knock him out and send him back to England and he can eat his—I don’t know what he’s eating there—chicken or whatever.”
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With UFC 324 two weeks away, Tsarukyan is holding out hope that he gets the call should Gaethje or Pimblett be unable to compete. His most recent octagon appearance this past November saw him score a dominant submission win over Dan Hooker to hold on to his spot at the front of the contender line.
Outside of that fight, Tsarukyan has stayed busy competing in various grappling competitions, and he’s confident that if he’s needed as a replacement for the Jan. 24 main event, he will be ready.
“I’m here,” Tsarukyan said. “I’m in shape. If UFC needs me, I’ll jump in and fight. I hope maybe something happens so I’ll go there, stay there, and even before one day if they say, ‘You’ve got to cut your weight and fight,’ I’ll do that. Because I train every day, I work so hard, and I believe in myself.”
It’s Tsarukyan who was first to book a UFC championship fight when he was scheduled to fight Islam Makhachev for the lightweight title at UFC 311 this past January. Unfortunately for Tsarukyan, a back injury forced him out of the contest a day before fight night, and he believes the matchmakers have been reluctant to trust him ever since.
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Tsarukyan didn’t help his case when he headbutted Hooker in a faceoff ahead of their UFC Qatar clash, potentially endangering that fight.
“It’s just my guess, I’m seeing from interviews, what my manager says to me, from that I decided because of that, I think,” Tsarukyan said as to why Dana White and company might have it in for him. “In person, I didn’t talk to Dana or [UFC executive] Hunter [Campbell] about that.”
“I’ve got to go to Vegas and talk to them,” Tsarukyan added. “We’ll see what they say, but it’s probably the headbutt, pull out from the title fight, yeah.”
