Morning Report: Michael Bisping asks if Ilia Topuria is ‘pulling a Jon Jones’ by not fighting Arman Tsarukyan

Michael Bisping hopes Ilia Topuria doesn’t fall into the same pattern as Jon Jones.

On his YouTube channel, Bisping opined on the potential challengers for Topuria, who recently vacated the featherweight title to move up to lightweight, where he was successful in capturing a vacant lightweight title when he knocked out Charles Oliveira at UFC 317. The current frontrunners are Paddy Pimblett (a longtime rival that confronted Topuria in the cage after his UFC 317 triumph), Justin Gaethje, and Arman Tsarukyan.

If it were up to Bisping, Tsarukyan would get the call. Tsarukyan is currently ranked No. 2 in the UFC’s official contender rankings, behind only Islam Makhachev, who is leaving the division to challenge welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena. Bisping drew parallels between Tsarukyan chasing Topuria, and current heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall recently pursuing a fight with Jon Jones.

“Is Ilia Topuria pulling a Jon Jones?” Bisping asked. “Because Arman Tsarukyan is a real threat to anybody. He is a tremendous fighter. I know a lot of people discredit him for pulling out at the last minute, and rightly so, that’s not a good look. However, he’s a really, really good fighter, simple as that. He can do it all.

“He’s got the striking, the wrestling, the cardio, the strength. He’s very young, he’s in his prime. The man’s an absolute monster. Ilia Topuria said if the UFC made him fight Arman Tsarukyan, he would vacate the belt.”

Tsarukyan is in a strange spot as he was supposed to face then-champion Makhachev for the lightweight belt at UFC 311 this past January, but lost the opportunity when a back injury forced him out of the contest a day before fight night. UFC CEO Dana White has said Tsarukyan likely has to fight again to earn another title shot, but that hasn’t stopped Tsarukyan from campaigning to get the Topuria fight.

He has even taking to employing similar tactics to Aspinall, suggesting Topuria is “ducking” the matchup.

“[Topuria] doesn’t want to fight him,” Bisping said. “He wants nothing to do with Arman Tsarukyan. So now Arman Tsarukyan’s out there. He’s making videos of little ducks. … He’s doing a Tom Aspinall, taking a duck wherever he went with him. Remember that whole saga with Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall? … But now we’ve got a new version. Now it’s Ilia Topuria and Arman Tsarukyan. Arman Tsarukyan’s even making a bet, offering him $500,000, half a million bucks if he beats him. Doing whatever he can to get the fight.”

“You could say that Ilia’s only doing this to get under the skin of Arman Tsarukyan, but it’s not a good look,” Bisping added. “If you’re the champion – just like when Jon Jones was the champion – if you’re the champion, you’ve got to fight the interim champ if there is one. If you’re the champion, you’re supposed to fight the No. 1 guy, simple as that.”

At the moment, Bisping is leaning towards Gaethje getting the title shot, due to Topuria ruling out Tsarukyan, and Gaethje being both a fan favorite and a respected company man. However, he sees a scenario where Tsarukyan gets the Topuria fight, and Gaethje and Pimblett battle to be next in line.

Whomever Topuria ends up fighting, Bisping hopes he understands the optics of not facing the designated No. 1 contender.

“I don’t want to talk shit about Ilia Topuria because the man is awesome,” Bisping said. “Every time I’ve met him he’s an absolute class act. He’s humble. He’s down to earth. He’s great to talk to. He’s very intelligent. He’s good for the sport. He’s a great ambassador. He represents two countries. Fights his goddamn ass off. He’s got excellent skills all over the place.

“So I ain’t criticizing the guy apart from the fact that for whatever reason he doesn’t want to fight Arman Tsarukyan. … Right now, he’s got nothing but big options. Ilia Topuria needs to fight. He needs to accept the fight with Arman Tsarukyan. Because who’s he going to fight? Is it going to be Paddy Pimblett? Arman’s out there talking shit about Paddy Pimblett, saying his last few opponents if you combined their records they’ve lost their last 13 in a row… That doesn’t quite stack up, but I get the point that he’s making however, he’s building his brand. Justin Gaethje has been around forever, however he’s ranked No. 3 and he has fought for the belt twice. Arman Tsarukyan is ranked No. 1. Whether he likes it, Ilia likes, anyone likes it. If you want to do it on a merit-based system, Arman Tsarukyan is the guy.”

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We gotta do what we gotta do, Angie!

Love.

Let ‘em know.

I mean…

Thoughts?

Topuria vs. Pimblett, that’s the one to make.

But what do I know? Let your voice be heard!

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