Former UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira and red-hot Russian bruiser Arman Tsarukyan will collide in a No. 1 contender fight (thanks to Justin Gaethje) on the UFC 300 pay-per-view main card on Sat. night (April 13, 2024) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
But Oliveira hasn’t done much in the way of pre-fight promotion.
That’s why Tsarukyan has been carrying the load, at least in terms of trash talk, but that doesn’t mean “Ahalkalakets” believes Oliveira is a “quitter.”
“Former champion can’t be like this,” Tsarukyan said during the UFC 300 media day. “He was former champion and he defend titles, quitter guys can’t be champion. I gotta talk about him because he doesn’t talk about me. I gotta talk about him. I wanna get more people to watch this fight. That’s why I gotta say something about him. I’m just trying to get more fans to watch this fight.”
Tsarukyan also cleared the air on the Kayla Harrison drama from last month’s fan Q&A.
“We talked to each other after that,” Tsarukyan said. “She understood what I meant and now we’re good.”
Tsarukyan (21-3) dropped a decision to Islam Makhachev in his UFC debut back in early 2019. In the years that followed, “Ahalkalakets” compiled an 8-1 record, which includes his first-round destruction of Beneil Dariush at UFC Austin. That performance was good enough to land Tsarukyan at No. 4 in the official lightweight rankings.
As for Oliveira (34-9, 1 NC), he coughed up the strap to Makhachev in the UFC 280 headliner back in late 2022. After disposing of the aforementioned Dariush at UFC 289 to get himself back into the lightweight title hunt, a late cut in training camp bounced “Do Bronx” from his Makhachev rematch at UFC 294.
One final hurdle to clear for the next 155-pound title shot.
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