Arman Tsarukyan has turned his attention to a top contender he knows will fight him.
Although Tsarukyan (20-3 MMA, 7-2 UFC) admits Michael Chandler is his No. 1 choice, the 26-year-old also likes Beneil Dariush (22-5-1 MMA, 16-5-1 UFC) as a potential opponent.
Having struggled to net top-ranked opposition, Tsarukyan is confident Dariush would accept to fight him – especially since he’s coming off a loss to Charles Oliveira.
“It’s hard to find the opponent,” Tsarukyan told Submission Radio. “But we have some guys who don’t care. We have one guy in our division who can fight with everybody – that’s Dariush. So we’ll see. Maybe the UFC is going to make this fight. That fight makes sense.
“For me, it’s a good step, and for me it doesn’t matter. I could fight with everybody in the top five – just give me any names and I’ll take it. And the UFC knows that. I’m that fighter who can beat everybody. That’s why I’ll take all fights.”
Tsarukyan is coming off back-to-back wins over Damir Ismagulov and Joaquim Silva. He’s targeting a return by the end of the year and thinks the timeline would work for Dariush too.
“I think they’ll work on it,” Tsarukyan said. “I don’t have exact information. He wants to fight at the end of this year, and I want to fight, and I see that me and Dariush can fight. I think that fight’s going to happen.”
Tsarukyan resonates with Dariush in his willingness to fight anyone, which is why he has plenty of respect for him.
“Dariush, in the top 15, he’s the nicest guy,” Tsarukyan said. “He’s a humble guy. I know him personally, and we trained once together. We had lunch together, so I know him. He’s such a good guy. But this is sport, and he wants to fight with everybody – same as me. I know he’d take that fight with me because for him it makes sense because he lost his last fight.”
