Matt Brown believes Arman Tsarukyan is likely to be passed over for the next UFC lightweight title shot.
Tsarukyan (22-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) was originally scheduled to face then-champion Islam Makhachev at UFC 311 in January but withdrew at the last minute due to injury. He later served as the backup fighter when Ilia Topuria faced Charles Oliveira for the vacant title at UFC 318. After Topuria (17-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) knocked out Oliveira to become the new champion, he called his longtime rival Paddy Pimblett (23-3 MMA, 7-0 UFC) into the Octagon for a faceoff.
Former UFC welterweight Matt Brown believes Pimblett will likely get the next shot at “El Matador,” though he feels Tsarukyan deserves to be first in line for the title opportunity.
“It’s probably going to be Paddy but it should goddamn well be Arman,” Brown said on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “We know that right? Of all the amazing things that Ilia has done so far, the fact that he called up Paddy, I’m not going to say he was ducking Arman, but he wanted that fight to be next. What I want to see personally, not saying this is the way everybody should feel, but I want to see him fight Arman. I think if he goes out and beats Arman, especially in a good fashion, but just beats him period, that to me is bigger than beating Charles, personally.
“I guess when you look at it that way in terms of the biggest fights but Paddy has not earned that. He just does not deserve to be there. Even other guys other than (Justin) Gaethje and Arman that deserve to be there.”
Topuria’s three consecutive title fight victories over Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway, and Charles Oliveira have been touted as one of the greatest winning streaks in UFC history. Having captured championships at both 145 and 155 pounds, the Spanish-Georgian star has hinted at a potential move to 170 pounds to face the winner of the rumored welterweight title bout between Islam Makhachev and Jack Della Maddalena.
“Ilia to me is on the verge of we start comparing him to like Jon Jones,” Brown said. “To me, if he goes out and beats an Arman or maybe Islam (Makhachev) moves back down or (Ilia) moves up if Islam wins or (he fights Jack) Della Maddalena, we’re starting to talk about Jon Jones level greatness. Start making comparisons, but if he goes out and beats a Paddy, he’ll go back and fight some of the tougher guys after that — not that Paddy’s not tough, I shouldn’t say that — but we know he’ll go back and fight some of those tougher matchups after that at some point. I just want to see it now.
“The guy’s right on the verge. I looked through some of Jones’ resume, and I was comparing some of the three fight runs that he went on, which he went on an undefeated run, but I’m not sure you compare them to this with Ilia. Maybe hindsight is 20/20, but I don’t know it’s as good as this run that Ilia is on.”
