Arman Tsarukyan re-cemented his position as the rightful No. 1 contender at lightweight with a crushing first-round knockout of Mauricio Ruffy at UFC 331 last weekend inside Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California.
Most pundits and betting bookies saw "Batman" beating Ruffy, but not the way he did it: with two massive elbows that sent his Brazilian opponent crashing to the canvas unconscious.
"They Don't Know My Skills"
During UFC 331's post-fight press conference, Tsarukyan addressed the surprising method of victory, which came after nearly five minutes of having his takedowns stuffed.
"They don't know my skills," Tsarukyan declared. "So in training, I do some crazy things that nobody's even seen in this room yet. But, if I'm gonna keep fighting often, you're gonna see a lot of different tricks that I can do. And yeah, he can defend my wrestling, but he cannot defend my striking. When I'm gonna mix it up, it's gonna be different."
A Big Night in Los Angeles
UFC 331 was a big deal for Tsarukyan. This was a return to Los Angeles, where he was forced to pull out of his title fight against Islam Makhachev last-minute. "City of Angels" is also home to a massive amount of rabid Armenian MMA fans.
"Every fight is pressure for me, you know?" Tsarukyan said. "It's not a joke, because I wanna be UFC champion and every fight for me is so important. This fight is important too because of the finish and I showed a great performance. And when I'm gonna see the bosses, they're not gonna say, 'It was a boring decision, and you wanna fight for the title?'
"I knocked him out in the first round, and they can see the crowd, the people, and my ability in the cage," he finished.
Tsarukyan Believes Gaethje Is Avoiding Him
Tsarukyan certainly did enough to earn a title shot, but whether he will get the next one is still up for debate. UFC has a big money rematch between 155-pound champion Justin Gaethje and former title holder Ilia Topuria ready to go.
And Tsarukyan believes Gaethje does not want to fight him.
"He never says my name, so he's scared," Tsarukyan said. "He knows he wanted Ruffy to knock me out, so it means he's trying to avoid me. And he's gonna try to call out Ilia Topuria or tell UFC, 'I want $15 million for Arman Tsarukyan or I'm retired,' and he's gonna play around on the bullshit game.
"But, you see, either he's gonna fight me or he's gotta leave the title, give the opportunity for the young guys," he added. "We have a lot of contenders right now."
No Preference on Opponent
Tsarukyan added that he was not particularly fixated on fighting any individual for the belt.
"I don't care, to be honest," he said. "I just want to fight for the title and become champion, no matter who's gonna be against me."
For now, it looks like Tsarukyan has punched his ticket to a title shot. When he can actually get said title shot is the only question left.
