UFC lightweight Ilia Topuria challenges former champion Charles Oliveira for the vacant title at UFC 317 this weekend at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Seems like Oliveira isn’t the only opponent he has in mind. Arman Tsarukyan will serve as the backup fighter for the main event bout which Topuria explained was not a bright idea.
“That’s a bad decision for him. I don’t know why he accepted, because you can’t come here as a backup fighter. I don’t know how did he train for this fight,” he told New York Post Sports.
“If something happens to anyone, even to me, think that there’s no possibility that something could happen with me, but who knows? No on knows what’s going to happen tomorrow. Even with Charles he would struggle a lot.”
Tsarukyan holds a win over Oliveira from when they fought at UFC 300. The victory earned him a shot at the lightweight title, but he withdrew from the fight with Islam Makhachev the day before due to weight cut issues. It was first thought that a back injury took him out of the fight.
Now he serves as the backup fighter in hopes that he can earn another shot at the belt. Topuria scoffed at the idea.
“I wouldn’t give him the chance immediately. He needs to win one more fight. He had the opportunity to fight for the title, he pulled out,” he said.
“I don’t know for what reasons but he pulled out, so he needs to win his shot again, against, I don’t know. Someone. There’s Justin Gaethje, Paddy Pimblett, many guys in the division that also deserve the shot. So they need to fight between each other.”
Tsarukyan did respond to Topuria’s comment on X saying,“You better pray nothing happens to Charles, because I’m the worst possible matchup for you in this division. There’s a reason you’re fighting the guy I already beat, and not me, for that belt.”
Guess we’ll wait and see what happens on Friday morning.
