Dustin Poirier and Chris Weidman believe Arman Tsarukyan is underestimating Alexander Volkanovski ahead of a potential lightweight showdown between the two UFC stars.
Following Volkanovski’s recent successful featherweight title defense against Movsar Evloev, the Australian champion floated the possibility of moving up to 155 pounds to challenge lightweight champion Justin Gaethje.
Volkanovski also suggested he could face Tsarukyan for the vacant lightweight title if Gaethje decides to retire, setting the stage for a potential clash between two of the UFC’s top pound-for-pound fighters.
Tsarukyan, however, was quick to dismiss the idea of facing Volkanovski, claiming the featherweight champion would be an easy opponent because of his age and questionable durability.
Speaking on this week’s episode of the Deep Waters podcast, Poirier and Weidman both pushed back against Tsarukyan’s assessment, arguing that Volkanovski would present a much tougher challenge than the Armenian lightweight appears to believe.
“Arman is a great fighter, but it's probably a tougher matchup than he's saying, man. It is a tougher matchup than he's saying. And I don't think Volk has a bad chance. And he showed his wrestling defense against Islam (Makhachev). That's a tough fight (for Arman),” Poirier said.
Weidman echoed Poirier’s sentiments, pointing to Volkanovski’s performance against Evloev as evidence that Tsarukyan should not expect to dominate the former featherweight champion with his wrestling.
“It's going to be hard to imagine you just thinking you're going to go out there and ragdoll (Volkanovski). Look at Evloev. Evloev's got great wrestling, and it didn't work out for him,” Weidman said.
The former UFC middleweight champion also found Tsarukyan’s comments amusing, noting that the lightweight contender is usually known for his humble demeanor.
“Arman’s funny because he seems like a very humble dude. He doesn't really smile much, and then when he talks, usually he's humble, and then these things come out of his mouth, and it's actually funny,” Weidman added.
Poirier agreed, suggesting that Tsarukyan’s comments were not necessarily intended as an insult but rather reflected his confidence heading into a potential matchup.
“Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Like, I don't think (when he said) ‘he's old, bad chin,’ I don't think he meant any malice to it. He wasn't trying to be disrespectful. He was just like, ‘Yeah, he's old, bad chin. Easy, easy, easy match for me. Yeah. No problem.’ It's not an easy match,” Poirier said.
