Ilia Topuria says Arman Tsarukyan is 'going to be pure panic' like Evloev against Volkanovski
Topuria said Tsarukyan stands out for his takedowns rather than his ground game, and that if his next opponent is not Justin Gaethje or Paddy Pimblett, it has to be Tsarukyan.
Ilia Topuria says Arman Tsarukyan would panic if they fought, the way Movsar Evloev did against Alexander Volkanovski.
Speaking to Álvaro Colmenero of the Spanish newspaper ABC in Tbilisi, in comments translated by Bloody Elbow, Topuria was asked how he saw a fight with Tsarukyan. "Arman is going to be pure panic," he said. "Like the Movsar (Evloev) fight with (Alexander Volkanovski), same thing."
Topuria told ABC that fighters like Tsarukyan are so used to taking opponents down and dominating that their confidence grows from it, and that they panic when they cannot. "Arman doesn't stand out for his ground game. He stands out for his takedowns and the dominant positions he works for," he said. When those takedowns are stopped, he told ABC, such fighters lock up and give up.
ABC put it to him that Tsarukyan has elite wrestling. "I've been world champion in two divisions," Topuria said. "I grew up on the ground. I grew up wrestling. It's my life." He told ABC he has more photos of himself competing in wrestling than playing in the park.
Topuria also named Tsarukyan as a possible opponent, telling ABC that if it is not Justin Gaethje or Paddy Pimblett, it has to be him. He said Tsarukyan has been promised a title fight but that he did not think the UFC cared much, calling him the typical profile the promotion can do whatever it wants with. Asked whether a fight with Tsarukyan would have to be for the title, Topuria said he would not mind, as long as there was a good deal.
Volkanovski stopped Evloev in round two of the UFC 333 main event in Abu Dhabi on 24 October. Topuria, the former featherweight and lightweight champion, lost for the first time when Gaethje stopped him at the White House in June, and has told ABC he is considering a return from April. In the same interview he ruled out a rematch with Volkanovski. No opponent or date has been announced.
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