Tsarukyan: Topuria won’t be as confident against me as he was with Oliveira

UFC lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan has expressed doubts about the confidence Ilia Topuria might have when facing him, compared to what he showed against Charles Oliveira at the recent UFC 317. Topuria, who became the tenth two-division champion in UFC history last weekend, achieved an impressive knockout over Oliveira in the first round. Topuria’s confidence, at 28 years old, was evident during the pre-fight, predicting a knockout in the first round and even celebrating the victory a day before the event.

He celebrated the day before because he already knew. Oliveira is not going to knock him out, he is not going to take him down. He is not going to outstrike him. He has good grappling, and that’s it. So, how is Oliveira going to win? He knew: ‘This is the best fight for me, 99.9 percent I will win this fight’. He is not going to be super confident with me.

Arman TsarukyanTsarukyan, currently number 2 in the UFC lightweight rankings, attributes Topuria’s confidence to the specific characteristics of the matchup. According to Tsarukyan, the situation would be different against him. The UFC has not yet defined Topuria’s next opponent. After his victory, Topuria had a face-off with Paddy Pimblett, ranked number 10, but the UFC has not confirmed that fight. Tsarukyan, who was on a four-fight winning streak, values a victory over Makhachev more, as he believes Topuria’s last three wins were against competitors who were no longer at their peak. Topuria has been recognized for one of the best three-fight streaks in UFC history, defeating Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway, and Oliveira.

If Topuria were to beat me, he would be at the same level as Islam. He has to beat someone like me, who can fight. He’s only had easy fights in his career. He beat legitimate fighters, but not in their prime. If he had faced Volkanovski five years ago, Volkanovski would have simply destroyed him. Now, Volkanovski is old. He’s not there anymore.

Arman Tsarukyan

Makhachev, for his part, vacated the belt at the beginning of this year, anticipating his move up to welterweight in search of a second title.