Arman Tsarukyan thinks the first UFC main event of 2026 is nothing but a joke.
Hailing from the familiar confines of the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, UFC 324 will see Paddy Pimblett battle Justin Gaethje for the interim lightweight championship. The winner will challenge reigning undisputed defending champion Ilia Topuria sometime in 2025 – much to Tsarukyan’s chagrin.
Tsarukyan has been the top-ranked prospect in the lightweight division for more than a year, but instead of competing for the interim title on Saturday night, he will sit on the sidelines and watch two lower-ranked athletes battle for it.
“Paddy Pimblett versus Justin Gaethje… I hope it’s Gaethje because I don’t like Paddy,” Tsarukyan said Demetrious Johnson. “If it were me against Paddy now, it would be such a big fight. Gaethje is not that interesting – he has barely beaten Fiziev and they are giving him a title fight. If Paddy wins, of course I want him. I will crush him easily. To me it is a joke that these guys are fighting for the title while I am the number one contender.”
Arman Tsarukyan is still trying to get his title fight after last year’s debacle
Tsarukyan was set to fight then-champ Islam Makhachev in January last year, but an alleged back injury forced him to pull out of the fight just 48 hours into fight night. The injury received some attention, leading to Dana White forcing Tsarukyan to go “back to the drawing board” before getting another shot at UFC gold.
Since then, ‘Ahalkalakets’ is coming off a second-round win over Dan Hooker in November. Many, including Tsarukyan, assumed this would be enough to get him back in the UFC’s good graces.
It turns out that this is not the case.
Now Tsarukyan will likely sit on the sidelines for most of 2026 waiting for Ilia Topuria to win against Pimblett or Gaethje, depending on who emerges victorious this weekend.
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