Dana White’s latest announcement about the Paramount+ CBS card shattered many hearts. The announcement appeared to toss around title fights without much thought. However, lightweight champion Ilia Topuria, who isn’t even on the card, is finding himself in the thick of it.

‘El Matador’ stepped away from active competition in the lightweight division for the first quarter of 2026 due to ‘personal issues’, with White announcing the interim lightweight title fight between Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett. The winner of the fight will get a title shot at Topuria when he returns. What took fans by surprise was the UFC’s snub of the No.1 contender Arman Tsarukyan despite a dominant win over Dan Hooker last weekend at UFC Qatar. If that wasn’t enough, Ilia Topuria‘s recent celebration clip on social media has ignited a wave of criticism from the fans.

Fans call out Ilia Topuria for avoiding Arman Tsarukyan

The 155-pound champion announced his hiatus from UFC with a statement on X. “I won’t be fighting in the first quarter of next year. I’m going through a difficult moment in my personal life. I want to focus on my children and resolve this situation as soon as possible,” he wrote.

“I don’t want to hold up the division. The UFC will make the matchups needed, and as soon as the matters are resolved I’ll let the UFC know I’m ready to begin my return,” he continued, making way for the division to perform without him while he is away.

However, a recent video clip shared by Aleksandre Topuria, Ilia Topuria’s older brother, on X, has flipped the narrative upside down. The clip featured Ilia Topuria and his friends immersed in a close-circle celebration over alcohol, food, and singing along to Spanish music in the backdrop. The fun outing has called into question his confession of a “difficult moment” in his life.

Fans quickly jumped in with the only possible explanation: avoiding a fight with Arman Tsarukyan, the real contender for the title shot. One user posted a laughing emoticon, questioning Topuria’s statement on X: “Yeah that a rough life.” Another user was more direct in calling out Topuria, writing, “‘I’m going through tough times’ aka I’m ducking Arman 😂😂😂.”

One fan played right into Topuria’s words, sarcastically equating the celebration with a rough patch: “Damn bro is suffering 😢.” Yet another fan chimed in: “This the tough time he was talking about?😂.” Tsarukyan’s fight clips couldn’t be kept out of the picture, with one fan captioning it, “Ducking time,” directly calling out Topuria’s attitude towards the Armenian fighter.

One user went so far as to question Topuria’s career, mockingly writing, “He’s a star in Spain, UFC is just part time.” Another fan agreed with the sentiment while stating, “Evrything but fight Arman.” It wouldn’t be an MMA roast comment section without memes, with one user posting an image of a duck running from a man, replacing the duck’s face with Topuria’s and the man’s with Tsarukyan’s.

While the backlash is intense, it hasn’t come out of the blue.

Ilia Topuria doesn’t want to fight Tsarukyan

When Tsarukyan called out ‘El Matador’ after his decisive win against Dan Hooker, the lightweight champion bluntly quipped that he’d rather give him the belt than fight the Armenian fighter. “I’m the world champion, I’m never going to give him a chance to fight for the title.” He continued, “I will be like, listen, if that’s the case, take my belt. I don’t do it.”

The Georgian fighter pointed out the Armenian fighter’s unreliability as the reason for his unwillingness to fight him. “Listen, when you put so much effort in the game, and you have a guy in front who you don’t know that maybe he could pull out from the fight, that’s not something good for us,” Topuria said, criticizing the Armenian fighter.

Tsarukyan had pulled out of his title fight with Islam Makhachev in the last moment, citing a back injury, putting him at odds not only with Dana White but the entire MMA fandom. However, when Tsarukyan stepped inside the cage, he awed fans with his superior striking and seat-gripping ground game. Hitting the mats, Tsarukyan worked to set up a tight arm-triangle against Dan Hooker, getting the submission win in the second round.

This was a statement-worthy comeback, screaming a fighter’s groove at the top of its lungs, especially after a hiatus of more than a year since Tsarukyan’s last fight against Charles Oliveira. This win at UFC Qatar extended his win streak to 5 fights and positioned him staunchly as the No. 1 contender. Yet, this blatant snub stood out as a sore thumb. Unfortunately, Tsarukyan wasn’t the only contender who was stripped of his deserved run at the belt.