Ilia Topuria blasts Arman Tsarukyan : ‘Maybe he had to change his underwear’ after UFC 311 withdrawal, Tsarukyan responds

Ilia Topuria has his own theory as to why Arman Tsarukyan appears to be on the outs with the UFC.

Tsarukyan has hovered at the top of the lightweight contender rankings for the past two years, but missed out on a chance to fight Islam Makhachev for the 155-pound title when a back injury forced him to withdraw from their UFC 311 main event clash this past January. It would be 10 months before Tsarukyan had the chance to fight again, and he took care of business at UFC Qatar, submitting Dan Hooker inside of two rounds.

Even after that, Tsarukyan is currently out of the title picture with Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett fighting for an interim lightweight belt at UFC 324 in January, and the winner of that matchup expected to face Topuria, the division’s current undisputed champion. UFC CEO Dana White has downplayed any supposed beef with Tsarukyan, but Topuria isn’t convinced.

“He knows what that internal conversation [after UFC 311] was like,” Topuria told eldoberdanMMA (Spanish translation via Championship Rounds). “Maybe he had to change his underwear after making that decision. So in the end, speaking as a promoter giving an opportunity to someone you heavily promote, invest a lot of money in, and place on a big card, only for them to gamble it away like that, it’s very difficult to trust them again.

“Then he gets another main event opportunity and he headbutts his opponent at the faceoff. That doesn’t show much intelligence. It also doesn’t show appreciation for the love the UFC is giving him in their promotion. What he doesn’t understand is that people are investing money to promote him, and with one simple headbutt, he’s putting all of that at risk. So when you see someone you’re supporting, you’re investing money in, and they give you that in return, would you keep supporting them?”

When Tsarukyan has competed, he’s frequently impressed. In his UFC debut in 2019, he lost a competitive decision to future lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, and has gone 10-1 since then with his lone loss being a close decision to Mateusz Gamrot.

However, Tsarukyan has fought just four times in three years, which Topuria sees as a lack of the most important ability: Availability.

“Arman is a good fighter,” Topuria said. “He’s had his opportunities and he refused to compete. He’s had his chance to fight for the title and he pulled out. All of us fighters deal with back pain, arm pain, leg pain, everything, and yet we still show up to fight. For some reason, he didn’t.”

Topuria believes the UFC decision makers are on the same page when it comes to not putting their faith in Tsarukyan. And he wholeheartedly agrees.

“That’s exactly what they’re doing,” Topuria said. “They sat at a table and you know what they said? ‘F*ck Arman.’ So Arman, from here, go f*ck yourself.”

Tsarukyan has since responded to Topuria’s comments, taking aim at Topuria currently being on hiatus as he deals with personal matters.

“You talking about taking time off from fighting to fix your family issues, but it looks like you have plenty of free time for all these interviews,” Tsarukyan wrote on Twitter. “You’re a joke, ‘El Panocha.’”