Arman
Tsarukyan is looking to put on an unforgettable showing against
Charles
Oliveira to cement his status as the No. 1 lightweight
contender.
Advertisement
Tsarukyan (21-3) and Oliveria (34-9) are slated to throw down on
the marquee UFC
300 card at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
While Oliveira is a feared submission specialist and Tsarukyan
comes from a wrestling background, “Ahalkalakets” believes the
fight doesn’t necessarily have to go to the ground.
“If you know wrestling and jiu-jitsu, how to defend, it’s a
completely different game,” Tsarukyan told Daniel
Cormier. “If we’re going to do jiu-jitsu without ground and
pound, of course, he can maybe get any submissions. But when you
punch someone, he can’t think about like, ‘Oh, I got to get his
arm,’ or whatever. He’s got to defend himself; you know? That’s why
it’s so difficult. Especially with high-level fighters right
now.
“First two rounds, it’s almost impossible to choke high-level
fighters. I believe that I can do that in [the] first round and I
want to show everybody I’m the best here. My goal is to go there
and knock him out in the first round to show everybody I deserve
that title fight.”
The Tsarukyan vs. Oliveira booking came shortly after Islam
Makhachev dismissed immediate rematches against both in favor
of a clash against Justin
Gaethje. While the UFC 300 booking has been widely accepted as
a title eliminator, Makhachev on Tuesday said that he will first
fight Gaethje in June and then the winner of the UFC 300 clash in
November.
Makhachev’s plans do not sit well with Tsarukyan, who believes the
champ should wait for the result of UFC 300 before booking a fight
in the summer.
“I think he should wait [for] us, because we are going to be
contender No. 1,” Tsarukyan said. “Hopefully they’re not going to
book that fight for the summer and wait [for] us. After, when I
win, I’m going to fight with Islam, and then we can talk about
Gaethje. I feel like we are next and Gaethje has to wait [for] us.
Gathje has to wait [until] October. OK, we’re going to fight for
the title in the summer.”