Has the first UFC lightweight title contender for Ilia Topuria been determined?
Topuria recently captured the 155-pound gold by sleeping Charles Oliveira in the opening frame of their UFC 317 main event. That’s now three straight knockout wins over future UFC Hall of Famers for “El Matador.” While Topuria has looked like a world beater, there are enticing challengers for him.
The UFC showed Arman Tsarukyan, Justin Gaethje, and Paddy Pimblett sitting in the crowd following Topuria’s lightweight title victory. Pimblett ended up having a staredown with Topuria inside the Octagon, which UFC CEO Dana White wasn’t too fond of.
So, who will win out on the Topuria sweepstakes? During an interview with MMAJunkie, Chael Sonnen claimed he knows the answer.
“Outside of illness or injury, even if I’m breaking news to you, I’m not sharing my opinion. I’m sharing a fact with you: It’s Arman vs. Ilia,” Sonnen said. “That is 100 percent the plan.”
Sonnen then shared a few key reasons that has led him to theorize that Ilia Topuria vs. Arman Tsarukyan is the plan.
“There’s a couple things (that have changed for Tsarukyan),” Sonnen said. “I’m obviously coming to you with information, whether I should have or shouldn’t have. Secondly, I was the best man at his wedding and his name is Darryl Christian and he’s the wrestling coach of Arman Tsarukyan. Third of all, I just spoke to coach (Sam Calavitta) who wanted to film Chimaev training, and it turned out Tsarukyan is in the room. And a bigger tell also is what Ilia did a week ago, which he said, ‘I don’t want the fight.’ The greats, they don’t even know they have it. … Ilia’s first move for doing a fight is to deny the fight. The only person that he said he’ll openly fight is Paddy.”
Many argue that Tsarukyan is the most deserving contender. The question is, does the UFC trust him? Tsarukyan was scheduled to challenge Islam Makhachev for the UFC Lightweight Championship earlier this year, but he was removed from the card just hours prior to the weigh-ins. Tsarukyan did make championship weight as a backup option for UFC 317.
