Arman Tsarukyan has rubbished Ilia Topuria’s claim that the champion ‘slapped’ him during a post-fight altercation last night.
Topuria was nowhere to be seen at cageside as Tsarukyan dominated Dan Hooker and submitted the Australian inside two rounds. The Armenian pushed for a face-off between the pair in his post-fight interview, but his rival wasn’t there despite having been at the arena earlier in the night to corner.
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And new footage has shown the pair did come head-to-head backstage, albeit in a relatively friendly manner despite the supposed bitterness of their rivalry. Topuria claimed to have hit his rival in the face, but the video did appear to be more cordial, which Tsarukyan has repeated.
- Who is Ilia Topuria? Meet the undefeated two-weight champion dominating the UFC.
Arman Tsarukyan hits out at Ilia Topuria after ‘slap’ claim
After Ilia Topuria claimed that he slapped Arman Tsarukyan last night in Doha, the lightweight contender took to social media to dispute the claim. He says it was a much more friendly interaction, insisting that the champion is just trash talking for social media.
“Bro, you touched my neck like we were taking a family photo and now you’re calling it a slap online?” Tsarukyan wrote on X. “The clip is clear – your insecurity’s even clearer.
“I don’t need to act tough for Twitter, my work is inside the cage. If you want to know what a real slap feels like, I’ll be happy to educate you. See you soon, El Pato.”
Ilia Topuria says he slapped Arman Tsarukyan after UFC Qatar
This morning, Topuria took to social media to share a video of he and Tsarukyan backstage at UFC Qatar that appeared to show some sort of physical altercation. He insisted that he struck his rival, although it really did look to be more of a friendly moment.
“Arman, every time we see each other in person you freeze up like a scared duck with no idea what to do.,” Topuria wrote on X alongside the video, which has since been viewed over 500,000 times. “You know I handle you however I want. I fight whoever the UFC chooses.
“And remember I slapped you and you just laughed, then you go around acting like a gangster. So keep going, you’re on the right path… just a few levels below me, kid.”