Outside Source
Tsarukyan (23-3) headlined UFC Qatar against Dan Hooker on Saturday in a potential lightweight title eliminator. “Ahalkalakets” made it look easy while submitting Hooker (24-13) with an arm-triangle choke in the second round. Tsarukyan’s friend and training partner, Chimaev, was impressed with his performance against “The Hangman.” While Chimaev was confident about Tsarukyan earning a finish, he didn’t want to count the chickens before they hatched. However, “Borz” believes Tsarukyan has sealed a title shot for himself with the win over Hooker.
Simply the Best
“Performance was crazy. I knew it was gonna be a finish by Arman,” Chimaev told the UFC. “I wanted to wait to say that… Arman is the best. He is the No. 1, he is the champ. I believe this guy is one of the best fighters in the world. He has to fight for the title.”
Tsarukyan has been deprived of a title shot thus far despite being the clear top contender. While Tsarukyan was originally scheduled to challenge Islam Makhachev for the title earlier this year, he was forced out with an injury a day before the fight. Disappointed with Tsarukyan, Dana White made sure he was sidelined from the picture when Makhachev vacated the belt to move up to lightweight. Former featherweight champ Ilia Topuria won the vacant title by knocking out Charles Oliveira. While Tsarukyan has since been calling out Topuria, “El Matador” is looking to face Paddy Pimblett for his first title defense.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
Help support MMACrazies.com when you shop Amazon by starting your online Amazon shopping at MMACrazies.com/recommends/amazon. You are not charged extra, but we receive a small and very helpful commission on everything you purchase. Thanks for thinking of us every time you shop at Amazon.
