Tsarukyan vows to face Topuria for lightweight title

Qatar hosted its first UFC event in Doha which showed plenty of magnificent moments with stunning knockouts and crafty submissions. Volkan Oezdemir and Myktybek Orolbai earned impressive knockouts victories, Waldo Cortes-Acosta won his fifth fight of the calendar year with a knockout win over Shamil Gaziev, and English prospect Luke Riley shined on his debut…

Qatar hosted its first UFC event in Doha which showed plenty of magnificent moments with stunning knockouts and crafty submissions.

Volkan Oezdemir and Myktybek Orolbai earned impressive knockouts victories, Waldo Cortes-Acosta won his fifth fight of the calendar year with a knockout win over Shamil Gaziev, and English prospect Luke Riley shined on his debut with a second-round TKO win.

Kyoji Horiguchi even made an intriguing return to the UFC, pulling off a dominant performance to submit Tagir Ulanbekov in the third round.

One result which captured a lot of attention was the headliner as Arman Tsarukyan made a statement win in the ABHA Arena.

The Armenian settled his fiery feud with Dan Hooker and won the battle by second-round submission with an Arm Triangle.

The #1 contender has eyes for only one thing now in the UFC which is the 155lbs title which Ilia Topuria is currently holding.

A lot of the MMA community believe that Tsarukyan will be Topuria’s toughest test due to having strong well-rounded skills with his grappling and striking.

‘Ahalkalakets’ was originally meant to fight for the lightweight championship in January against Islam Makhachev at UFC 311, but he pulled out due to injury.

Another fighter who is looking to compete for the belt next is Ian Machado Garry as he pulled off an unanimous decision victory over former welterweight champion, Belal Muhammad.

The victory for the Irishman means he moves up to #2 in the 170lbs rankings and may be the next likely competitor for Makhachev’s first championship defence.

Only losing one bout in his MMA career, Garry believes he is the next rightful title challenger and could make tough work for the #1 pound-for-pound fighter with his highly rated attributes on the feet and on the ground.

It seems like a promising future in terms of title contention for the UFC as there are a lot of close, contested matchups that could occur in the beginning of 2026.