Dan
Hooker believes Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight
champ Islam
Makhachev won’t risk having his throne challenged by Arman
Tsarukyan.
Advertisement
Tsarukyan recently announced his arrival in the lightweight title
picture with a spectacular knockout win over Beneil
Dariush in the main event at UFC Austin on Dec. 2.
“Ahalkalakets” subsequently called for a rematch against Makhachev,
who defeated Tsarukyan in his UFC debut in 2019. UFC CEO Dana White
also admitted that Tsarukyan’s win over Dariush complicates the
question of the next title shot at lightweight, which was expected
to be given to Charles
Oliveira until now.
Hooker, a former opponent of Makhachev’s, said on „The
MMA Hour” that he believes the champ will hang up his gloves
before facing Tsarukyan. Hooker also thinks that Tsarukyan is too
risky a stylistic matchup for Makhachev while not being a big
draw.
“He ain’t gonna fight him. I guarantee he’ll retire,” Hooker said.
“He’ll retire by the time Arman gets to him for sure… Too risky,
there’s too much risk. There’s too many other easier fights out
there…Stylistically, the bigger names who are actually gonna sell,
like no one’s gonna buy a Arman
Tsarukyan pay-per-view. No one’s tuning into the press
conference, no one’s giving the $80 for the pay-per-view. You’d
rather watch Islam fight [Conor] McGregor or [Justin] Gaethje or
someone like that.”
While Tsarukyan had dropped a decision against Makhachev in their
initial encounter, “Ahalkalakets” displayed some gritty wrestling
against the Dagestani stalwart. Tsarukyan has since lost only one
more time in nine outings, a decision against top contender
Mateusz
Gamrot. The 27-year-old believes he has come into his own as a
fighter since his first encounter with Makhachev and is
deserving of a rematch next.