UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria thinks Arman Tsarukyan got exactly what he deserved.

With Topuria (17-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) temporarily taking personal time off to deal with legal issues with his ex-wife, the UFC opted to match up Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett for the interim belt in the UFC 324 on Jan. 24, with the winner expected to face Topuria.

That leaves No. 1 ranked lightweight Tsarukyan (23-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) out of the title picture, but Topuria says that is of his own making. He pointed to Tsarukyan’s head butt of Dan Hooker during the UFC Fight Night 265 weigh-in faceoffs last month, as well as Topuria pulling out of his lightweight title bout against Islam Makhachev just a day before UFC 311 as reasons why the promotion chose not to include him.

“Arman is a good fighter. He’s had his opportunities and he refused to compete,” Topuria said in a translated interview with “El Doberdan MMA.” (h/t Championship Rounds). “He’s had his chance to fight for the title and he pulled out. All of us fighters deal with back pain, arm pain, leg pain, and everything, and yet we still showed up to fight. For some reason, he didn’t, and he knows what that internal conversation was like. Maybe he had to change his underwear after making that decision. So in the end, speaking as a promoter, giving an opportunity for someone you heavily promote, invest a lot of money in and place on a big card, only for them to gamble it away like that, it’s very difficult to trust them again.

“Then he gets another main event opportunity and head butts his opponent at the faceoff. That doesn’t show much intelligence. It also doesn’t show appreciation for the love the UFC is giving him in their promotion. What he doesn’t understand is that people are investing money to promote him, and with one simple head butt, he’s putting all of that at risk. So when you see someone you’re supporting, you’re investing money in, and they give you that in return, would you keep supporting them? Well, that’s exactly what (the UFC) are doing. They sat at a table, and you know what they said? ‘F*ck Arman.’ So Arman, from here, go f*ck yourself.”

Just like he did with Pimblett, Tsarukyan fired back at Topuria.

“You talking about taking time off from fighting to fix your family issues, but it looks like you have plenty of free time for all these interviews. You’re a joke El Panocha.”

You talking about taking time off from fighting to fix your family issues, but it looks like you have plenty of free time for all these interviews.
You’re a joke El Panocha 🐱 https://t.co/YFDJRRC7t2

— Arman Tsarukyan UFC (@ArmanUfc) December 22, 2025

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Ilia Topuria slams Arman Tsarukyan for letting UFC down, gets response