UFC lightweight Arman Tsarukyan proved himself to be a deserving title-shot contender with a victory over Charles Oliveira at UFC 300. But his recent appearance on Ariel Helwani’s, ‘The MMA Hour’ podcast revealed that he is already concerned about who he might face for the UFC lightweight title fight. Looking at the current scenario, ‘Ahalkalakets’ opined that he might lock horns with the current UFC lightweight king Islam Makhachev or Dustin ‘The Diamond’ Poirier. However, he also mentioned that the Poirier fight may become a reason for his ‘worry’ since ‘The Diamond’ might not be eager to fight against him.
Tsarukyan has been looking for a rematch against the current UFC lightweight champ, Makhachev, for a long time. But several MMA pundits have rightly predicted that Poirier may be the next in line for a shot at Makhachev’s gold. This is why the Armenian counted ‘The Diamond’ as a potential rival as well. Tsarukyan said,
“If Poirier wins, he’s gonna try to escape me, you know. But if Islam wins, Islam’s gonna fight with me definitely.”
There are enough reasons behind Tsarukyan‘s trust in Makhachev. The Dagestani has a ‘bring it on’ attitude towards the UFC’s offers for him. However, Poirier too, does not have a record of deliberately ducking fights.
Is Arman Tsarukyan right in predicting that Dustin Poirier will duck a fight against him?
Dustin ‘The Diamond’ Poirier maintains the reputation of being one of the cleanest fighters in the current UFC roster. He has also been awarded by the USADA for completing the milestone of 50 clean drug tests in his UFC career. The Louisiana native’s reputation for accepting fights also bears similarity to his PED-related cleanliness.
His latest victory against the #11-ranked Benoit Saint-Denis at UFC 299 proved that he also packs an Islam Makhachev-like mentality when it comes to dominating his opponents. Thus, only time will tell whether Tsarukyan was correct in his assessment of Poirier or not.
