Arman Tsarukyan confident he leapfrogged Paddy Pimblett for lightweight title shot after UFC Qatar

Arman Tsarukyan believes he will be fighting for the UFC lightweight title next time out.

Tsarukyan returned to the Octagon on Saturday at UFC Qatar, and he dominated Dan Hooker en route to a second-round submission win. Following the win, Tsarukyan said he’s confident he will pass Paddy Pimblett to get the next title shot.

“It’s 100 percent going to be me. No way they can give Paddy Pimblett the fight; everybody is going to laugh at them. I’m No. 1 contender; I proved it again. What do they want from me? I went and destroyed Dan Hooker,” Tsarukyan said to Ariel Helwani on Monday.

Tsarukyan believes Pimblett doesn’t deserve to be ranked fifth or even be in the conversation to fight for the belt. He also thinks his fight has to be for the belt next, as he truly deserves it.

Arman Tsarukyan says he has to fight for the belt next

“It has to be me,” Tsarukyan said. “Their plan was that maybe I was going to struggle with Dan Hooker, and they could push me to the back and they say ‘Listen, you barely won over Dan Hooker, you have to wait.’ Now, they can not say anything. No. 1 contender is here. I show up in Qatar to show everyone. I don’t know, hopefully it’s me, it’s supposed to be me.”

As Tsarukyan says, he doesn’t care if Ilia Topuria wanted to fight in January against Paddy Pimblett, as he has to be next now. As of right now, the UFC has yet to book Topuria’s first title defense, so Tsarukyan could very well be his next fight.

Arman Tsarukyan is 23-3 as a pro and coming off the win over Dan Hooker. He’s riding a five-fight winning streak, as before that, he edged out a decision over Charles Oliveira, which came back in April of 2024.