Since pulling out of UFC 311 at the 11th hour due to a back injury, Arman Tsarukyan has been keeping busy, fighting in Karate Combat and preparing for his return to the Dana-White led promotion. However, when offered a shot to showcase his talents at UFC: Abu Dhabi, the Armenian grappler asked the UFC to come up with a better offer, much to the shock of Islam Makhachev’s coach.
Makhachev’s long-time coach at the American Kickboxing Academy, Javier Mendez asserts that the former lightweight title contender must not spit on the UFC’s face if he wants to return to his former glory.
According to veteran tactician, if he were Arman’s coach, he would tell the fighter to just destroy whoever the promotion presents him with- be it a #7, #10 or even a #15 ranked fighter.
“Destroy that guy. Prove that you belong there. Have a hard fight with him, then you don’t belong in there,” Mendez advised. The coach further explained that since he managed to anger the UFC brass by pulling out of UFC 311, he cannot afford to play hardball — at least not when “they (UFC) have the bigger chips on their side“.
Mendez claimed that the only UFC superstar in the current roster who could pull that off was heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who, during his 801-day tenure as the divisional kingpin, has only defended his crown once.
“Jon Jones can play with them because Jon Jones has pretty big chips. He can call a lot of the shots. He always has. He’s one who can do it. Not too many of them can do that,” Mendez noted, adding that “Arman is not in that power position. He’s not the A-side, you know. When you are on the A-side, you can call the shots”.
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Mendez, however, also noted that if he were Arman’s coach and saw his fighter make the call to refuse a fight, he would stand beside him.
“… I go with him regardless because at the end of the day… You advise them properly and and if he doesn’t want to do it then you have to stick with whatever his decision is and back him,” he added.
Meanwhile, Arman is preparing to travel to Abu Dhabi at the end of this month to grapple former Bellator MMA Lightweight champion, Patricky Pitbull, instead.
The last time he spoke to the media, Arman had asserted in no uncertain terms about feeling insulted by the UFC’s offer.
Arman unhappy with UFC’s disrespect
As he continues to try and regain the brass’ favor, one would assume that the Armenian fighter would bend over backwards to take whatever fights that come his way.
Especially in light of the lightweight division being at a crossroads this weekend.
With Ilia Topuria, Charles Oliveira, and Justin Gaethje with more recent fights and wins calling for a title shot, and champion Islam Makhachev refusing to vacate the title even if he chooses to fight at welterweight, Tsarukyan finds himself at the back of the line.
Despite this, he claims to have found the UFC’s offer of a matchup with a lower-ranked fighter unbecoming. Claiming that he doesn’t need to fight for money, Arman noted that he needed to fight a top 5 or 6 contender to be able to challenge for the title next.
“I am the number one contender. Why should I give such a gift to a guy who’s ranked number 10? Nobody did that for me when I made it to the top 10… I didn’t want to put my spot on the line for free,” he said.
In fact, it grinds his goat that the Dana White-led promotion has even tried to do that with him.
“It’s the UFC who made me angry when they offered me that kind of an opponent. I would say it was disrespectful to me from their side to offer me that. I deserve better, I am the number one contender,” he noted, adding that the promotion needed to give him a #1 contender fight instead.
