{"id":4301,"date":"2024-08-29T21:46:30","date_gmt":"2024-08-29T20:46:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/?p=4301"},"modified":"2024-08-29T21:46:30","modified_gmt":"2024-08-29T20:46:30","slug":"arman-tsarukyan-makes-a-statement-about-islam-makhachev-and-discusses-potential-interim-belt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/arman-tsarukyan-makes-a-statement-about-islam-makhachev-and-discusses-potential-interim-belt\/","title":{"rendered":"Arman Tsarukyan Makes a Statement About Islam Makhachev and Discusses Potential Interim Belt"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Islam<\/strong> Makhachev is expected to fight again this year to defend his lightweight title. Naturally, Arman Tsarukyan could be his next opponent. The Armenian fighter spoke in an interview specifically about his potential matchup against the champion and the possibility of an interim belt.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Islam Makhachev currently reigns over the formidable lightweight division. Indeed, title contenders prove themselves every year for a chance to fight him. At the moment, Arman Tsarukyan seems to be in the top spot to attempt to win the belt. After knocking out Beneil Dariush in the first round and defeating Charles Oliveira by split decision, the Armenian fighter has his sights set solely on the champion\u2019s title.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">However, an injury has derailed UFC&#8217;s plans. Last June, Islam Makhachev successfully defended his lightweight belt against Dustin Poirier with a spectacular submission. However, the Russian announced that he got injured during this bout. With this uncertainty, Makhachev might not be able to fight this year. Arman Tsarukyan has addressed this situation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Islam Makhachev vs. Arman Tsarukyan?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In a recent interview with Ushatayka, Arman Tsarukyan explained the situation regarding the fight with Islam Makhachev. He confirmed that discussions are ongoing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cThe fight against Islam Makhachev was supposed to happen in October,\u201d Tsarukyan stated. \u201cBut it has been postponed, and now we are talking about December. It depends on when he can return,\u201d and the chances of creating an interim title. \u201cIf he cannot fight by spring, I think they [UFC] will set up a fight for the interim title.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\u26a1\ufe0fArman Tsarukyan says that the fight with Islam Makhachev could take place in December &#8211; in the USA.<\/p>\n<p> If Islam cannot return to the octagon before spring, then Arman is ready to accept a fight for the temporary title (for example, with Dan Hooker).<\/p>\n<p> \ud83c\udfa5 YT Ushatayka \u25ab\ufe0f <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/O2T8ymIbSL\">pic.twitter.com\/O2T8ymIbSL<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Home_of_Fight\/status\/1828050708819489081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 26, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Arman Tsarukyan also mentioned that \u201cDan Hooker could be a contender for the interim belt.\u201d As for other fighters in the lightweight division, Beno\u00eet Saint-Denis is set to face Renato Moicano at UFC Paris in September. A renowned MMA coach recently shared the keys to success for the Frenchman. Recently, Paddy Pimblett also discussed his career plans.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Islam Makhachev is expected to fight again this year to defend his lightweight title. Naturally, Arman Tsarukyan could be his next opponent. The Armenian fighter spoke in an interview specifically about his potential matchup against the champion and the possibility of an interim belt. Islam Makhachev currently reigns over the formidable lightweight division. Indeed, title [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4302,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,86,21,91],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4301","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"category-mma-video","9":"category-ufc-news","10":"category-ufc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4301"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4301"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4303,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4301\/revisions\/4303"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmamag.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}