Tsarukyan claims Gaethje is scared to fight him

The No. 1 contender believes the champion is avoiding him

Arman Tsarukyan is now convinced he has done everything necessary to earn another shot at the UFC lightweight title.

He has definitely strengthened his case with his impressive knockout victory over Mauricio Ruffy. While he has solidified his position as the No. 1 contender, he claims that the reigning champion Justin Gaethje is avoiding him.

At the post-fight press conference, he revealed that he has little confidence in a potential matchup with Justin Gaethje. He believes that the fact the champion has never challenged him or even mentioned him is proof enough that Gaethje wants to avoid him.

“He never says my name, so he’s scared,” Tsarukyan said. “He knows he wanted Ruffy to knock me out, so it means he’s trying to avoid me. And he’s gonna try to call out Ilia Topuria or tell UFC, ‘I want 15 million for Arman Tsarukyan, or I’m retired,’ and he’s gonna play around on the bullsh*t game”

he said.

Arman Tsarukyan isn’t fazed by this, however, and claims that his opponent has limited options anyway. He says he doesn’t care at all whether he ends up facing Justin Gaethje or someone else, since he simply wants to fight for the title no matter what. The doubts surrounding him from all sides might stem from the fact that in 2025, when he had his first title shot against Islam Makhachev, he withdrew shortly before the fight. Since then, though, he’s actually proven time and again that he deserves a shot, or what do you think?

I definitely think he deserves a title shot. Arman Tsarukyan is a great fighter, and I’d be really happy for him if he ever wins the title because he always talks about it with such emotion. I hope he can make his dream come true soon.