Justin Gaethje closed out UFC Freedom 250 in style on Sunday at the White House with his upset of lightweight champion Ilia Topuria. The win shook up the divisional landscape, significantly affecting the rest of the promotion’s 155-pound contenders.
No one was more interested in that outcome than No. 1-ranked lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan. If his position as the assumed next in line to challenge the White House winner wasn’t enough, Tsarukyan and a friend also bet $1 million on Gaethje before the fight. The upset resulted in a massive $5.7 million payout for the pair.
Tsarukyan, 29, had no idea in real-time during Sunday’s show that he scored big with the title change. He revealed Monday on “The Ariel Helwani Show” that he couldn’t watch the event live because he was flying and had no internet.
“For eight hours, I was thinking, ‘What happened?’ When we land, my internet still didn’t work, but my friend’s internet worked, and he said Justin won. I was like, ‘What?!’ I thought he was kidding,” Tsarukyan told Uncrowned.
“I said, ‘No way. Show me.’ When I saw that, I couldn’t believe it, to be honest. I was happy.”
Tsarukyan’s surprise primarily came from the fact that he won such an absurd amount of cash. Remove that aspect, however, and he always believed there was a stylistic edge in the new champion Gaethje’s favor, even if he was still left shocked by the result.
“You never know, because he was super underdog for the fight, and he could beat him,” Tsarukyan said. “That’s why there’s a chance, and Justin on the main fights, he always wins almost, and stylistically, Topuria was a good matchup for him too. He’s not wrestling. He doesn’t wrestle. Guys like me, Charles Oliveira, Islam Makhachev, Khabib Nurmagomedov, these guys for [Gaethje] are dangerous because he has no ground game.”
Despite his recent absence from MMA competition, Tsarukyan has remained highly active in Real American Freestyle (RAF). The day before UFC Freedom 250, Tsarukyan extended his win streak in the promotion to six with a dominant 10-0 tech fall victory over former UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson. Tsarukyan’s RAF run began in January, and he’s already scheduled for two more matches on July 11 and July 18.
The last time Tsarukyan (23-3) competed in MMA, he scored an impressive second-round arm triangle choke against Dan Hooker. That was in November at UFC Qatar, keeping his UFC win streak alive at five. Tsarukyan said UFC officials have already told him a targeted date for his return fight, but he declined to say when or who against — it just won’t be before September.
Ultimately, Tsarukyan has his sights set on the new champion after the big weekend.
“After the bet, I wanted Gaethje to win,” Tsarukyan said.
“[The fight] just ended, but it has to be me [to challenge next for the title]. Who else? Like, come on. What are they going to do? They’re going to put Charles Oliveira vs. Gaethje? Or Conor McGregor if he wins — but I don’t think he can [beat] Max Holloway. It’s me, and I want to beat Justin Gaethje. I want to beat everyone, and when Ilia is going to be ready, if I’m going to be a champion, I would like to do same as Justin did. Even worse.”
As for Topuria, it was his first career loss after a thrilling start to his 17-fight career.
Gaethje’s performance against the pound-for-pound great started impressively, utilizing his jab to perfection. Topuria rallied from there with a strong second round, but the damage he endured accumulated much quicker than anything he could offer in return.
Going into the fourth round, which ended up being the fight’s last, Topuria nearly lost via doctor’s stoppage when his eyes appeared too swollen to see. Having watched the fight since, Tsarukyan believes it should’ve been stopped there rather than going another brutal five minutes.
“His eye was closed, and he couldn’t see, but he wanted to fight because he’s a warrior,” Tsarukyan said. “He wanted to fight, but Round 4, his brother said, ‘No, that’s enough.’ That’s the right decision because when you have one eye, it’s so difficult to fight. I heard he broke his [orbital].”
Even though Topuria persisted onward after the punishment he endured in the first 15 minutes, Tsarukyan still views Sunday’s loss as Topuria quitting.
Topuria’s brother, UFC bantamweight prospect Alexander Topuria, called off the action in between rounds, going into the fifth.
“Of course [he quit]. If my brother said no, I’m [still] going to fight,” Tsarukyan said.
On Monday, Topuria reacted to the loss for the first time. Rather than making excuses after expressing extreme confidence ahead of the bout, the now-former champ gave Gaethje his props and congratulations.
Tsarukyan was pleased to see that. As tough as the loss was from a damage perspective, Topuria can still come back strong, Tsarukyan believes.
“That’s good. I like it. There’s no reason to try to find excuses. Just say, ‘Yeah, I lose,’ and move on,” Tsarukyan said.
“He can come back, definitely. This loss will give him a lot of lessons not to be overconfident, respect your opponents, and keep grinding. He was more focused on his media stuff than his training camp.”
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