UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria recently claimed that he would rather vacate the title than give No.1 contender Arman Tsarukyan a shot at the belt, and that’s not gone down well with former UFC fighters turned color commentators Paul Felder and Michael Bisping.
“They are going to give [Tsarkyan] a fight before the title shot because there is no way – I’m the world champion, I’m never going to give him a chance to fight for the title,” Topuria had told the Nelk Boys in a recent interview. “I will be like, listen, if that’s the case, take my belt. I don’t do it.”
Reacting to that, Felder bemoaned the fact that some modern-day titleholders like Topuria aren’t behaving in a manner befitting of their champion status.
“In this generation of fighters, when they get to this top position, are so willing to jump around weight classes and try to deny fighting guys,” Felder said on Michael Bisping’s ‘Believe You Me’ podcast. “It’s not how it f—-ing works. If the guy is number one and the UFC says, ‘This is the guy.’ You’re the champ, you’re holding that belt, that’s who you fight. If you’re the best and he’s not on your level and all this kind of stuff, then prove it. I hate that.”
Bisping agreed and likened the situation to the long-running Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall saga.
“[Topuria] doesn’t want to fight him,” Bisping said. “He wants nothing to do with Arman Tsarukyan. So now Arman Tsarukyan’s out there. He’s making videos of little ducks. … He’s doing a Tom Aspinall, taking a duck wherever he went with him. Remember that whole saga with Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall? … But now we’ve got a new version. Now it’s Ilia Topuria and Arman Tsarukyan. Arman Tsarukyan’s even making a bet, offering him $500,000, half a million bucks if he beats him. Doing whatever he can to get the fight.
“You could say that Ilia’s only doing this to get under the skin of Arman Tsarukyan, but it’s not a good look. If you’re the champion – just like when Jon Jones was the champion – if you’re the champion, you’ve got to fight the interim champ if there is one. If you’re the champion, you’re supposed to fight the No. 1 guy, simple as that.”
