{"id":323112,"date":"2026-04-23T04:06:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T22:36:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=323112"},"modified":"2026-04-23T04:06:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T22:36:32","slug":"arman-tsarukyan-laughs-at-ilia-topurias-plan-to-submit-islam-makhachev-not-even-khabib-could","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/04\/23\/arman-tsarukyan-laughs-at-ilia-topurias-plan-to-submit-islam-makhachev-not-even-khabib-could\/","title":{"rendered":"Arman Tsarukyan laughs at Ilia Topuria&#8217;s plan to submit Islam Makhachev: &#8216;Not even Khabib could&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"post-305398\">\n<div class=\"article-follow\">\n<div class=\"article-sharing google-follow\"> <a class=\"fw\" href=\"https:\/\/profile.google.com\/cp\/Cg0vZy8xMWs2azRtMzFf%20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">  <span>Follow us on Google Discover<\/span> <\/a> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Arman Tsarukyan doesn&#8217;t expect Ilia Topuria to turn out to be a triple champion within the UFC.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Topuria began his pursuit of gold on MMA\u2019s biggest stage within the featherweight division, and he&#8217;s now eyeing up the title at welterweight.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-grvmedia-grv-video GRVMultiVideo\"><\/figure>\n<p>After a temporary reign at 145 kilos, Topuria knocked out Charles Oliveira at UFC 317 to turn out to be lightweight king. In doing so, \u2018El Matador\u2019 succeeded Islam Makhachev, and he now plans on chasing his rival.<\/p>\n<p>Islam Makhachev bade farewell to his lightweight title reign and started his rule over the 170-pound weight class in 2025. The Dagestani is awaiting his first defense, with a super-fight against Topuria being among the many options.<\/p>\n<section class=\"grv-talking-point\" data-trigger=\"vue-sidebar\" data-story-id=\"031073e9-cea1-46e8-86fa-ad583873d49b\" data-story-name=\"Islam Makhachev\" data-comment-id=\"2af29fc8-58a3-4026-9f71-a7ce373a6ae6\" data-story-slug=\"islam-makhachev\">\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__inner\">\n<header class=\"grv-talking-point__header\">  <\/header>\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__content\">\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__cta\">\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__title-wrap\">\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__title-content\">\n<h3 class=\"grv-talking-point__title\">Does a fight between Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria must occur? \ud83d\udc40<\/h3>\n<p class=\"grv-talking-point__subtitle\">Tell us within the comments how you&#8217;ll see this super-fight playing out\u2026<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"grv-talking-point__embed\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"819\" height=\"1024\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 991px) 100vw, 800px\" src=\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/01\/BE-Talking-Points-creative-templates-2-1-819x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Islam Makhachev celebrates his win at UFC 311, Ilia Topuria on stage at the UFC 317 ceremonial weigh-ins\" class=\"wp-image-283256\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/01\/BE-Talking-Points-creative-templates-2-1-819x1024.jpg 819w, https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/01\/BE-Talking-Points-creative-templates-2-1-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/01\/BE-Talking-Points-creative-templates-2-1-768x960.jpg 768w, https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/01\/BE-Talking-Points-creative-templates-2-1-912x1140.jpg 912w, https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/01\/BE-Talking-Points-creative-templates-2-1-600x750.jpg 600w, https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/01\/BE-Talking-Points-creative-templates-2-1.jpg 1080w\"><\/div><figcaption title=\"Islam Makhachev celebrates his win at UFC 311, Ilia Topuria on stage at the UFC 317 ceremonial weigh-ins. Credit: Jeff Bottari\/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images\">Islam Makhachev celebrates his win at UFC 311, Ilia Topuria on stage on the UFC 317 ceremonial weigh-ins. Credit: Jeff Bottari\/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Arman Tsarukyan gives Ilia Topuria \u2018zero probability\u2019 of submitting Islam Makhachev<\/h2>\n<p>Topuria has long expressed his triple champ ambitions within the UFC. Despite Makhachev\u2019s size advantage, the ex-featherweight is confident that he could move up and unseat the Russian star.<\/p>\n<p>In truth, the Spaniard recently suggested he would have the ability to submit Makhachev, something that no fighter has yet achieved in mixed martial arts.<\/p>\n<p>Topuria\u2019s lightweight rival, Arman Tsarukyan, recently reacted to that claim, having spent three rounds contained in the Octagon with the present welterweight king.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s secure to say that \u2018Ahalkalakets\u2019 thinks Topuria\u2019s confidence is misplaced. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf he&#8217;s going to maneuver up, it\u2019s okay. He&#8217;s going to maneuver up, Islam is gonna kick his ass, and he\u2019s gonna come down and I\u2019m gonna kick his ass. Then UFC will just release him,\u201d Tsarukyan said on <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=F2Csn3yMLMw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">The Ariel Helwani Show<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cZero (probability Topuria beats Makhachev). Submit Islam? Yeah, to knock out Islam he has more probability than to submit Islam.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel not even Khabib (Nurmagomedov) could submit Islam,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 991px) 100vw, 800px\" src=\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2246908559-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Islam Makhachev takes the back of Jack Della Maddalena during their UFC 322 fight\" class=\"wp-image-273231\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2246908559-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2246908559-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2246908559-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2246908559-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2246908559-1140x760.jpg 1140w, https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2246908559-750x500.jpg 750w\"><\/div><figcaption title=\"NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 15: (L-R) Islam Makhachev fights against Jack Della Maddalena of Australia in a welterweight title bout during UFC 322 at Madison Square Garden on November 15, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Ishika Samant\/Getty Images)\">Photo by Ishika Samant\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Tsarukyan has accused Topuria of running from their fight by plotting a weight switch after he unifies the lightweight belts against Justin Gaethje on the White House.<\/p>\n<p>Many have long seen the Armenian as essentially the most deserving of a title shot, but his antics outside of the cage have appeared to stifle his push for an additional opportunity after the UFC 311 withdrawal.<\/p>\n<div class=\"see-more-wrapper lazy see-more-open see-more-blank extra-content\" data-src=\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/2026\/04\/22\/arman-tsarukyan-laughs-at-ilia-topurias-plan-to-submit-islam-makhachev-not-even-khabib-could\/none\" data-type=\"subscribe\">\n<div class=\"see-more subscribe\">\n<figure class=\"newsletter\">\n<div><svg class=\"loading\" width=\"118\" height=\"36\" viewbox=\"0 0 118 36\"><use href=\"#dots-svg\"><\/use><\/svg><\/p>\n<div class=\"signup\"><span class=\"hf\">Join Our Newsletter<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Receive a digest of our greatest Bloody Elbow content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Follow us on Google Discover Arman Tsarukyan doesn&#8217;t expect Ilia Topuria to turn out to be a triple champion within the UFC. Topuria began his pursuit of gold on MMA\u2019s biggest stage within the featherweight division, and he&#8217;s now eyeing up the title at welterweight. After a temporary reign at 145 kilos, Topuria knocked out [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":323113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21048],"tags":[15319,9713,1794,10796,18724,13132,1239,11386,19507,15320],"class_list":["post-323112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mma","tag-arman","tag-ilia","tag-islam","tag-khabib","tag-laughs","tag-makhachev","tag-plan","tag-submit","tag-topurias","tag-tsarukyan"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323112"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":323115,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323112\/revisions\/323115"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}