Arman Tsarukyan Accuses Justin Gaethje of Avoiding Him: “He’s Scared”
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Arman Tsarukyan feels the UFC lightweight champion Justin Gaethje is scared to fight him.
After Arman Tsarukyan knocked out Mauricio Ruffy at UFC 331, he has made a strong case for the next lightweight title shot. The Armenian has been near the top of the division for a long time and has beaten big names like Charles Oliveira and Dan Hooker. However, after pulling out of his title fight against Islam Makhachev, Dana White made ‘Batman’ work his way back to another title shot. Now, after beating Ruffy, Tsarukyan says current champion Justin Gaethje is trying to avoid fighting him.
Arman Tsarukyan Says Justin Gaethje Is Avoiding Him
Tsarukyan said Gaethje does not say his name because he is scared of him. He seems to be talking about Gaethje’s recent interview, where the champion said he wanted Ruffy to beat Tsarukyan. Gaethje has also said that he wants to fight Ilia Topuria again. Consequently, as per the Armenian, Gaethje now has to fight him or give up the title.
In his words, “He never says my name, he's scared. He wanted Ruffy to knock me out. He's trying to avoid me, he's gonna try to call out Ilia Topuria. He's gonna play around bullsh*t games. Either he's gonna fight me or he's gonna the title.”
For those who don’t know, Tsarukyan is currently the No. 2-ranked lightweight and has not lost since 2022. Even though White called his fight against Dan Hooker a title eliminator, he still did not get the title shot. Now, the UFC does not have many options left and it will be hard for them to deny the Armenian the title fight he has been waiting for.
Dana White Praises Arman Tsarukyan for His Comeback
At UFC 311, Tsarukyan pulled out of his fight against Makhachev, which made Dana White unhappy. Because of that, Arman had to work his way back to another title shot. But since then, he has kept winning and beating one fighter after another. Now, it seems White is impressed with how Arman has bounced back.
“When you f*ck up, then you come back and you do everything the right way. I mean you couldn't have had a better comeback after the things that he'd done,” White stated.
Now, Tsarukyan feels that he has secured the title shot by beating Ruffy in style. So, it will be interesting to see if he can become the new champion or if Justin Gaethje will deliver another upset.
