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Thankfully, the 155-pound class will not be waiting around while Topuria sorts through some personal issues. Unfortunately, it will move in a direction that few expected. Despite Arman Tsarukyan’s dominant victory over Dan Hooker last week at UFC Qatar (watch highlights), the elite wrestler will not be moving closer to the title. Instead, Paddy Pimblett and Justin Gaethje will fight for interim gold at UFC 324, setting up the victor for a shot at Topuria sometime in spring or summer.
As for Tsarukyan? It’s going to be a while. At best, he could get a shot after the soon-to-be-crowned interim champion, and that’s not even considering the potential of some sort of Topuria vs. Islam Makhachev super fight somewhere down the line.
Former UFC champion TJ Dillashaw doesn’t think this is by accident. When asked if Topuria is running from Tsarukyan, Dillashaw answered in the affirmative. He doesn’t discredit Topuria’s skills, but he does see Tsarukyan as a real threat to the “El Matador” reign.
”I do think so,” Dillashaw said of Topuria running from Tsarukyan on the Jaxxon podcast. “With that said, I think Ilia Topuria is the highest-skilled fighter in the UFC right now, but I do think he is threatened by Arman. Arman is big, he’s strong, great at the weight class, his boxing is clean, great grappling — it’s a tough fight for him. To where he can go to 170, maybe he doesn’t get the win … it doesn’t make sense. The only fight for Ilia Topuria right now is Arman.”
It’s a sad state of affairs when the best possible Lightweight booking is put on the shelf indefinitely. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that Topuria and Tsarukyan are both young at 28 and 29 years of age respectively. Eventually, the fight will surely materialize given their respective excellence, but fight fans may be waiting for quite a while.
