Arman Tsarukyan lays down condition for Islam Makhachev rematch after Joaquim Silva KO - "If you give me 8 weeks..."
After an impressive victory at UFC on ESPN: Vettori vs. Cannonier, Arman Tsarukyan has called out lightweight champion Islam Makhachev for a rematch.
After scoring a third-round stoppage win against Silva, Tsarukyan spoke to Paul Felder for his post-fight octagon interview. While talking about his future plans, the 26-year-old called for a second fight against Makhachev.
Making his case for the title shot, 'Akhalkalakets' said he had only three weeks to prepare for his first fight against Makhachev. He argued that if he were given eight weeks to prepare for the rematch, he would defeat the lightweight king.
"Now, I'm gonna be [the] number one contender. When I fought first time with Islam Makhachev, you gave me three weeks. If you're gonna give me eight weeks, I'm gonna smash him."
Tsarukyan added that if not Makhachev, he wanted to take on a top-five lightweight contender next and mentioned Michael Chandler as a possible opponent.
Check out Tsarukyan's post-fight octagon interview below:
Arman Tsarukyan locked horns against Joaquim Silva in a lightweight scrap on the main card of UFC Vegas 75. One interesting thing to note about the matchup was that Tsarukyan, who is ranked No. 8 in the UFC lightweight rankings, went up against an unranked contender in Silva.
'Akhalkalakets' got the better of the Brazilian for the majority of the fight and proceeded to score a TKO victory in the third round. With the victory, Tsarukyan has now gotten his hand raised in seven of his last eight bouts, which includes victories over fighters like Damir Ismagulov, Joel Alvarez, and Matt Frevola.
With a few more wins, the 26-year-old could put up a strong argument for a shot at the UFC gold.
What happened in the first fight between Arman Tsarukyan and Islam Makhachev?
After building an impressive 13-1 MMA record, Arman Tsarukyan entered the UFC and took on the current lightweight king Islam Makhachev in his debut, that too on short notice.
The bout was a highly-competitive affair that went the 15-minute distance. In the end, the Dagestani was declared the winner via unanimous decision as the three judges scored the fight 30-27, 30-27, and 29-28 in favor of Makhachev.
The contest was awarded the 'Fight of the Night' honors and both fighters took home a bonus cheque of $50,000 each.