Every time you blink, Ilia Topuria seems to get himself embroiled in a new controversy. Just a few days ago, it was Khabib Nurmagomedov on behalf of Islam Makhachev, igniting a hot debate on who’s the most eligible contender for his mentee. Clearly sidelining the recent UFC 317 victor, the retired fighter namedropped Jack Della Maddalena. While Topuria is yet to respond to that, it looks like another dig just got added to his list.

The war of words this time, though, was started by El Matador himself. During a Kick stream with The Nelk Boys on July 22, Topuria was questioned about a potential fight with Tsarukyan for his first title defense. To this, the 28-year-old, referring to the Armenian fighter pulling out of the UFC 311 vs Islam Makhachev owing to a back injury, responded, “First of all, who gives a f— about him. He’s kind of weird, dude. … [He pulled out] for no reason.  If you really have a serious reason, I don’t know how could it happen, but break your hand, your leg, something like that, I don’t know.’” So, what’s Tsarukyan’s response? 

Well, first it was his coach, Marcos DaMatta, who said ‘Ahalkalakets’ can beat the current lightweight champion. During his recent conversation with Ariel Helwani. “We respect Ilia’s grappling, but Arman is on a different level. I think Arman has the ability. He’s better than Charles, he’s better than all these guys that Ilia fought,” the mentor said. But he also added a subtle reality check for his fighter: “The big super fight Ilia vs. Islam is off. So I’m not sure, maybe they’re gonna put Pimblett to fight Ilia, wait until Islam fights JDM, see what happens, and hope they both win. Then there’s your big super fight for next year. In the meantime, Arman needs to fight one more time to cement himself as the number one contender. If that’s what we gotta do, we’ll do it.”

To add more fuel to the simmering rivalry, Red Corner MMA also shared one of Topuria’s pointed statements from his Kick stream on X. “In a shocking declaration, Ilia Topuria says he’d rather vacate his UFC title than defend it against Arman Tsarukyan. The undefeated champion refuses to acknowledge Arman as a worthy challenger, making it clear he wants no part of that matchup — even if it means giving up the belt. 😳🏆,” the tweet shared a few hours ago read. But Tsarukyan wasn’t convinced. He went against his coach to lash out at the reigning lightweight champion on X. “I’m never gonna give him a chance. If that’s the case, then take my belt.” Enraged by the dismissal, ‘Ahalkalakets’ further wrote, “Imagine calling yourself a champion, but you’re already looking for a way out. You can vacate it, or I’ll take it. Either way, it’s mine.”

Of course, this wasn’t the first time Ilia Topuria and Arman Tsarukyan talked trash about each other. Ever since ‘El Matador’ got the title shot against ‘Do Bronx’, the friction between Topuria and Tsarukyan has only gotten stronger and hotter.

But we have to commend the Armenian star’s resilience in calling out the Spanish champion. 

Arman Tsarukyan continues to call Ilia Topuria out with a jab from the past

‘El Matador’ has often kept one thing stagnant in his talk about Tsarukyan: The latter’s pullout and missed weight at UFC 311. But Tsarukyan did some digging and decided to fire back at the lightweight champion through an X post earlier this month. He found out that Topuria also failed to make weight a few times. In the caption, ‘Ahalkalakets’ wrote, “Another fun fact: Topuria regularly misses weight. So spare us the fairytales about fighting with one arm. You pulled out from fighting Charles Jourdain, hermanito…”

Being a bigger guy, Tsarukyan beams with confidence when he talks about fighting Topuria. But how does he intend to defeat the champion who has established himself as one of the strongest punchers? During a conversation with Daniel Cormier, Tsarukyan said, “It’s not just wrestling. I’m a well-rounded fighter, and I’m not going to just try to wrestle him. I’m going to strike him, I’m going to kick him, I’m going to upkick him… show him wrestling, punch him, punch him wrestling… clinch work.”

But first, he will have to win back the fighting community’s trust and reclaim his spot as the #1 lightweight contender. And then, if things turn out right, we can expect an announcement about Topuria vs. Tsarukyan. Till then, all we have to do is wait and let the lightweight division’s story unfold.