Arman Tsarukyan Fires Back at Islam Makhachev: “Thank Me for the $50K Bonus”

Despite not wanting to fight him for the title this soon, Arman Tsarukyan is not afraid of Islam Makhachev. The #1 ranked lightweight contender is just biding his time for his shot at the title. Ahead of the Poirier fight at UFC 302, the Armenian asked Islam to thank him for his first $50k bonus.

In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani’s Championship Rounds, Tsarukyan replied to Makhachev’s taunt about thanking him for getting signed to the UFC.

“Why I gotta say thank you to him? I gotta (say) thank you first to my manager, second to UFC…But (Islam) gotta say thank you to me because he got first time his life [$50K] when he fought with me.”

 

The pair fought for the first time in 2019 when both were relatively new to the division and were trying to make a name for themselves. It should be noted that the performance of both fighters earned them the fight of the night bonus.

Arman Tsarukyan believes Islam Makhachev should be thanking him because he had never won the $50k bonus in his UFC career prior to the fight

In the same interview with Ariel Helwani, Tsarykyan offered his prediction for their potential rematch.

Arman Tsarukyan calls out Islam Makhachev for being ‘overhyped’

Tsarukyan wants to avenge his loss to Islam. And if Islam wins today, he will have the opportunity to win the UFC lightweight title while doing so. So the calling out has already begun. After asking Islam to thank him, the Armenian called the lightweight champion, ‘overhyped’.

“Yeah definitely overhyped. They think they’re unbeatable… Islam thinks no one can beat him but definitely I can do that…I’m gonna win him by KO.”

Arman Tsarukyan believes he has what it takes to KO the champion. However, this own coach had earlier spoken about how he was not ready to defeat Makhchev yet. So, if Arman disagrees with his assessment, we will see it play out in the next few months.