After defeating Joaquim Silva ahead of schedule at UFC on ESPN 47 in Las Vegas, Russian lightweight Arman Tsarukyan has no doubt that he is one of the leaders in the title race and is ready to take revenge on the reigning division champion Islam Makhachev, whom he lost by decision in his debut fight under UFC banner.
“Now I will be the number one contender,” Tsarukyan said in an interview after the fight. “When I fought Islam Makhachev for the first time, you gave me three weeks. If you give me eight weeks to prepare, I will destroy it.”
At a press conference after the event, the Russian said that he would like to fight the next fight on October 21 at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi, where his compatriot will defend his title, and also named the names of two more potential rivals.
“If Benil Dariush can fight in Abu Dhabi in October, I want to fight him. If not, I’m ready to fight anyone in the top five. Dariush, Chandler, whoever. Yes, the fight with Dariush makes sense, but if you ask me, I would prefer the fight with Michael Chandler. It looks like his fight with Conor McGregor is not going to happen and he needs to fight someone. I’m here, I’m on a good winning streak, so let’s do it. I’m the youngest in the top 15 and he’s one of the oldest guys in the division. It’s a good fight for the fans – new generation vs old.”
Recall that the fight between Arman Tsarukyan and Joaquim Silva, which became the second most important event of the event, ended in the third round with the victory of the Russian by technical knockout.
Source: https://fighttime.ru/news/item/31851-arman-tsarukyan-poobeshchal-unichtozhit-islama-makhacheva.html?rand=19907
