{"id":77801,"date":"2025-08-01T15:32:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T14:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/?p=77801"},"modified":"2025-08-01T15:32:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T14:32:18","slug":"arman-tsarukyan-goes-off-on-ilia-topuria-calls-him-names-for-making-champions-look-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theplayoffs.news\/en\/arman-tsarukyan-goes-off-on-ilia-topuria-calls-him-names-for-making-champions-look-bad\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cHe\u2019s Not McGregor\u201d \u2013 Arman Tsarukyan Goes Off on Ilia Topuria \u2013 Calls Him Names for Making Champions Look Bad"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In a heated war of words that&rsquo;s lighting up the MMA world, top lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan has publicly called out Ilia Topuria for allegedly ducking him as a title challenger. The outburst came after Topuria won the UFC lightweight title, after moving up the division, with a thunderous knockout of Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 on June 28.&nbsp;<\/p><p>While fans speculated who Topuria might face in his first defense, names like Paddy Pimblett and Justin Gaethje floated freely. While Tsarukyan believes he should be next in line and is not happy about being left out of the conversation.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Arman Tsarukyan continues to go after Ilia Topuria over his behavior as champion &#128064;&#128548; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/h0HhiaSPTg\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>pic.twitter.com\/h0HhiaSPTg<\/a><\/p>&mdash; MMA Junkie (@MMAJunkie) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MMAJunkie\/status\/1951270236486881498?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>August 1, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Heat Behind the Callout<\/h2><p>The feud escalated when Topuria took a shot at Tsarukyan during his appearance on the &lsquo;Full Send Podcast&rsquo; with the Nelk Boys, referencing the lightweight contender&rsquo;s withdrawal from a title fight against Islam Makhachev earlier this year due to a back injury. Topuria claimed he&rsquo;d rather vacate his newly won title than risk facing someone he doesn&rsquo;t trust to make it to fight night.<\/p><p>He said, <em>&ldquo;When you put so much effort [into] the game and you have a guy in front [of you], who you don&rsquo;t know that maybe he could pull out from the fight, that&rsquo;s not something good for us. &lsquo;Oh my back.&rsquo; Bro, I don&rsquo;t fu***ng care. I&rsquo;m the world champion, I&rsquo;m never gonna give him a chance to fight for the world title&hellip; If that&rsquo;s the case, take my belt. I don&rsquo;t do it.&rdquo;<\/em><\/p><p>Topuria&rsquo;s jab didn&rsquo;t go unanswered. Tsarukyan, who previously edged out Oliveira at UFC 300 in April 2024, fired back on X: <em>&ldquo;Who wants to let Ilia know he&rsquo;s not McGregor, and that he&rsquo;s making all the champs look bad &ndash; champs fight the #1 contender&hellip;. but this is the same guy who thinks he&rsquo;s the &ldquo;bmf&rdquo; &#128514; how do you say &ldquo;p**sy&rdquo; in Spanish?&rdquo;<\/em><\/p><p>The Armenian-Russian fighter continued the heat, saying, <em>&ldquo;Imagine calling yourself a champion, but you&rsquo;re already looking for a way out. You can vacate it, or I&rsquo;ll take it. Either way, it&rsquo;s mine.&rdquo;<\/em><\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Arman Tsarukyan training in Alicante, Spain &ndash; the former city of Ilia Topuria <br><br>&ldquo;Still training&hellip; and the duck is still ducking&rdquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/2DvyROqga3\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>pic.twitter.com\/2DvyROqga3<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Dovy&#128268; (@DovySimuMMA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DovySimuMMA\/status\/1950862212156858483?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>July 31, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Is Ilia Topuria Picking Fights or Ducking Them?<\/h2><p>The MMA community is split. While Topuria has racked up dominant wins, first by dethroning Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298, then defending against Max Holloway at UFC 308, and finally conquering Oliveira at UFC 317, his public reluctance to face Tsarukyan has drawn sharp criticism.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Still mine &#128526; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/1Z7qWeXXGM\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>pic.twitter.com\/1Z7qWeXXGM<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Ilia Topuria (@Topuriailia) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Topuriailia\/status\/1946826414365266350?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>July 20, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure><p>Veteran fighter-turned-analyst Paul Felder echoed those concerns on the &lsquo;Believe You Me&rsquo; podcast, <em>&ldquo;Why&rsquo;s the champ calling out Paddy Pimblett when Tsarukyan is sitting right there? This isn&rsquo;t how titles should be defended.&rdquo;<\/em><\/p><p>Some even liken Topuria&rsquo;s stance to Jon Jones&rsquo; infamous refusal to fight interim heavyweight champ Tom Aspinall, opting instead to vacate his belt.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"tl\" dir=\"ltr\">Is Ilia Topuria ducking Arman Tsarukyan? <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/dWithxMxFG\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>pic.twitter.com\/dWithxMxFG<\/a><\/p>&mdash; MMA On Point (@OnPointMMA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/OnPointMMA\/status\/1948360013212487875?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" class=\"trk-cta-link\" data-cta-trk='{\"ctaType\":\"Link\",\"ctaSubType\":\"main\"}'>July 24, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure><p>Even though serving as the backup for UFC 317 and having previously been scheduled to face Islam Makhachev, Tsarukyan still doesn&rsquo;t have an official announcement from the UFC for a title shot. But I&rsquo;m the fight that matters.<\/p><p><em>Mandatory Image Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"mm-layout mm-layout-type-post mm-layout-slot4\">\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the lightweight title in play, Arman Tsarukyan and Ilia Topuria exchange heated, crude barbs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":77802,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_mux_skip_reasons":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1783],"tags":[1861,1963],"class_list":["post-77801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mma","tag-arman-tsarukyan","tag-ilia-topuria"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s Not McGregor&rdquo; &ndash; Arman Tsarukyan Goes Off on Ilia Topuria &ndash; Calls Him Names for Making Champions Look Bad - The Playoffs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Explore Arman Tsarukyan&#039;s fiery callout of Ilia Topuria after UFC 317. 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