Arman
Tsarukyan has shared his pick for the
UFC 326 headliner, whom he eventually wants to fight.
Max
Holloway will put his BMF belt on the line in a rematch against
Charles
Oliveira at UFC 326 on March 7 in Las Vegas. Tsarukyan is
backing his former foe Oliveira to beat Holloway. While Tsarukyan
thinks Oliveira isn’t the most technical sometimes, he believes “do
Bronx” outperforms himself on good nights. Tsarukyan earned a split
decision win over Oliveira in their matchup in 2024. However,
Tsarukyan claims the scorecards didn’t do justice as he beat
Oliveira convincingly. “Ahalkalakets” wants Oliveira to beat
Holloway so that he can run it back with the Brazilian and show
that he has always been better.
‘We Have a History’
“Sometimes Oliveira fights so bad, but sometimes he’s unreal,”
Tsarukyan said on Telegram. “You never know with him. I still lean
towards him to win. I hope Oliveira wins, we have a history. We can
rematch. People say I won via split decision, but I think I won
convincingly. I won all rounds. I need to finish him and show
people that victory wasn’t an accident. Even two years ago I was a
level above him.”
While the win over Oliveira (36-11) earned Tsarukyan (23-3) a title
shot against Islam
Makhachev, he backed out a day before the fight due to an
injury. That withdrawal has cost Tsarukyan nearly a year at his
prime as he has been sidelined from the title picture. While
Tsarukyan expected to secure a title shot with a win over Dan Hooker
last November, he had to wait in the wings as Justin
Gaethje won the interim lightweight title against Paddy
Pimblett at UFC 324
last month. Gaethje is now expected to fight the champion Ilia
Topuria in a title unifier. Meanwhile, Oliveira has gone 2-1
since his loss to Tsarukyan and is fresh off a submission win over
Mateusz
Gamrot.