Despite everything Arman Tsarukyan has accomplished in the UFC, Dana White seems to ignore him when it comes to the interim lightweight championship. The title bout is set to take place between Paddy Pimblett and Justin Gaethje. That silence is what has caught Daniel Cormier’s attention.

Not just Tsarukyan’s silence online, but the lack of noise around a fighter who, on paper, should be impossible for Daniel Cormier to ignore. On a recent interview clip shared by Red Corner MMA, Cormier was asked the question many fans have been trying to find an answer to for months. “Why isn’t Tsarukyan fighting for a title?” The UFC legend himself was baffled about the title snub.

“I don’t know. I don’t know why Arman is not fighting for a title. I really don’t,” Cormier admitted. And that uncertainty mattered. Why? Because coming from a former champion who understands how UFC matchmaking works behind the curtain, it wasn’t deflection. It was straight-up confusion.

Cormier acknowledged that he’d “heard the reason because of what happened in Los Angeles,” a reference to Tsarukyan’s controversial and abrupt UFC 311 withdrawal last year, but he also pointed out the steps Tsarukyan took to make amends. He stayed ready as a backup when Ilia Topuria fought Charles Oliveira. He even accepted a fight against a dangerous name like Dan Hooker.

Tsarukyan’s recent run only strengthens the case. He is riding five straight wins and ten victories in his last eleven fights. His submission of Hooker at UFC Qatar wasn’t a narrow decision or a lucky break. It was dominant. And that’s where Cormier’s observation turns sharper.

According to him, that calm may not be accidental, and UFC CEO Dana White could be playing a key role behind the scenes. “I don’t know what the conversations that they’re having behind closed doors are,” he said, before adding the key insight, “Because they’re telling him something that’s making him okay with it, right? Because if he wasn’t okay with it, he would be more loud about him not getting his opportunity. ”

Instead, Tsarukyan has largely stayed measured. That’s why, according to Cormier, silence suggests reassurance. “So I just, I kind of defer to they know more than we do,” he said. “And so we got to kind of accept it for what it is because it seems like Arman is doing that too.”

With UFC making its move to Paramount, the fight between Pimblett and Gaethje is the main event, but the fight card does see a clear omission of multiple fighters who many fans would argue deserve the spotlight.

Tsarukyan believes that Paramount might have something to do with his snub. Dana White has already made it clear that the winner of Gaethje vs. Pimblett is next in line for Topuria. That pushes Tsarukyan further back, despite his ranking and momentum. In a division where timing is everything, is his patience a dangerous gamble?

This isn’t a contender being ignored. It’s a contender being managed. Whether those private conversations referred to by Cormier lead to a guaranteed title shot or simply buy time remains to be seen. But it’s not just the former ‘champ-champ’ questioning Arman Tsarukyan’s situation!

Jon Anik points to Arman Tsarukyan being treated “unfairly” by the UFC and Dana White

That gray area surrounding Arman Tsarukyan is where Jon Anik enters the conversation. And unlike Daniel Cormier, he isn’t pretending to have all the answers. While speaking on the JAXXON Podcast, the veteran UFC play-by-play voice was upfront about what he doesn’t know. Anik admitted he isn’t privy to the behind-the-scenes details of what unfolded at UFC 311, when Arman Tsarukyan was forced to withdraw from his title fight against Islam Makhachev on weigh-in day. But Anik does feel confident about the fact that the lightweight contender hasn’t escaped the fallout.

According to him, “Whatever it may be, the narrative continues to spin, and the fight with Dan Hooker no longer became a title eliminator. The world is unfair, so yes, I do believe he is being treated unfairly. But the extent to which he crossed Dana White back in January at UFC 311, only those on the inside really know.”

As such, Daniel Cormier looks at the same picture and sees a contender who should be making noise, but isn’t. To the former ‘champ-champ’, that silence suggests reassurance behind the scenes. A quiet confidence that something is already lined up.

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Jon Anik, on the other hand, sees a different problem altogether. He’s looking at a fighter he’s called “the best, most complete lightweight in the world,” yet one who still appears to be paying interest on a single moment from nearly a year ago.

The lightweight division doesn’t pause, and momentum doesn’t stay warm forever. If those private conversations Cormier alluded to end with Tsarukyan standing across from a champion, the silence will suddenly look calculated. But if that moment never comes? Then this stretch risks becoming a cautionary tale. Proof that sometimes, even when you do almost everything right, it still might not be enough.