Lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan spoke with members of the press at the official UFC Vegas 75 media day ahead of his …
um and how are we feeling ahead of this one on Saturday night how’s the body how’s the mind hello I feel good can’t wait to fight do you feel like at this point you know you’re one of the hottest up and coming guys in this division that when you get put up in matchups like these everyone kind of expects you to win does that add pressure or do you feel like no I should be winning these fights as myself you know I feel a little pressure because he’s on ranking and uh it’s a risk to fight with him but I know I’m gonna I’m gonna win and uh if I’m the best I gotta I gotta beat everybody who gonna fight with me how did you end up fighting an unranked guy sort of feels like you could be paired up with some of the bigger names of the division so we’re you know like nobody except fight nobody wants to fight and a lot of guys and I know like they they offered good money they all UFC offered good money for some guys in uh top 15 and even even that they didn’t they didn’t accept fight with me so it’s so disappoint me I mean would you care to share some of those names maybe try and get these fights going uh who didn’t accept yeah yeah Crown Dawson first and the hooker second and uh yeah two that definitely when you hear these guys didn’t accept a fight with you does it make you kind of want to fight them more or do you think okay well no we won’t bother them you know I said okay if you don’t want to fight I’m gonna fight with anybody you know UFC knows like I’m that guy who gonna fight with everybody you know and they offered like even unranking guy not short notice I said give me him give me Silver in May 6 so I’m gonna fight with him May 6th they said no he can be he can fight May 6 he wanna be ready and he wants to have full training camp I said okay it doesn’t matter let’s have training all training like whole whole training camp like full training camp and fight with me so and uh I gotta keep winning and uh one day you know I’m gonna be number one Contender so and I wanna you guys put me I’m gonna knock him out this Saturday and put me on top fire because it’s not it’s not my bed you know last time I thought it was damiris Magoo damir samagu of his toughest fighter in our division I want him and you like you didn’t even like like put me on number like one number High you know like I stayed in the same same position I was number nine I stayed number nine it’s like crazy so it doesn’t make sense to fight like this so if I’m gonna fight this if I’m gonna win this Saturday I’m gonna stay the same same rank it’s make it doesn’t make sense you know but you guys gotta understand you gotta you gotta like understand like you gotta put me on top five because it’s not my bed I’m curious you know I think most people who watch this sport can see you’re you’re obviously very very talented so does it frustrate you a little bit that you’re not able to get up those rankings get those fights it’s kind of stalling your career right you want to be up there at the top and you’re like well how can I not be is that not annoying yeah you know I waste my time so I just I just like I just uh fought with damir he’s tough opponent I thought oh if I’m gonna beat damir he’s five and all in UC he’s like he didn’t lose like maybe 10 years or eight years and I beat him and nobody like nobody talk about that you know and uh I was disappointed and I hope after this fight you know like I’m gonna get top five top uh top top fighters and uh many events so if you could pick the next guy after on Saturday who’s logically a good choice for you I’m sure you know you’d love to turn around again and fight before the end of the year but who would you like to fight against yeah I I would like to fight with uh Darius physio and the gamro three names I have on my mind but I gotta win this Saturday he’s tough opponent you know and uh I just focus I don’t think oh I’m gonna fight with somebody after the I just focused on my fight Saturday and Saturday night I’m gonna talk you with you again and we can like pick someone thank you yeah since your fight last December how many fights were offered to you and how many fires have turned you down uh they offered me Mike I supposed to fight with my Kana so it was good fight menu and you know yeah he’s top 15 he got injured and then they said you’re gonna fight probably April 28th if we find someone I said okay I still was cutting weight and then said they said oh we’re gonna find someone maybe who can come anyone in May 6 I said okay and still I was waiting for that day May 6 and then they said May 13 probably we we could find someone I said no way and if you can find me six how are you gonna fight me May 13th so and then they just said June June 17th so and like they they offered me a lot of different names probably this guy probably this guy probably this guy we are waiting for hooker we are waiting for uh Drew lover we are waiting for uh Grand Dawson these three names they offered me I said yes yes yes so they know like I didn’t say no I’m not gonna fight it rude over or I’m not gonna fight it’s this guy so and uh you know I thought like maybe uh Bobby green gonna accept that fight and I said my manager after when he he won like not one but uh his fight was canceled like what happened like he threw no contest no Contents I said oh okay he wants like um he wants money you know maybe he’s gonna accept his uh accept that fight and I’m gonna fight and even him like he said no what can I do like how disappointing were you that the moycano fight fell through it was another main event for you a UFC veteran a big name someone that that’s that has a lot of hype right now he got canceled year if I got canceled how disciplined were you I was disappointed you know but now I’m happy I have a fight and uh I’m gonna make money I’m talking with you guys it’s good for me for my media stuff you know and uh so I got I gotta show good performance this Saturday and uh keep going straight and uh hopefully they they find they they found they could fight for me you know and I’m happy for that thank you thanks so much especially the Sean Shelby and uh he he was trying so hard to find someone and it was it was a difficult job for him you know um what were your thoughts on Charles Oliveira versus benildarius this this past weekend you know I thought the uh for sure I thought he’s in good shape you know it it his last chance you know on his life I think To Be A Champion to to fight with uh Islam mahaja because if he won he could fight with Islam and now he lost and uh to go on the top like to fight to be in contender takes like two years maybe one year and a half you know and he’s not young like me that’s why I thought he gonna give all all himself on this fight but he he’ll he started to look good but then something happened and he missed punch and it is what it is Charles he’s a good he’s a good fighter you know he has a lot of experience he has a patient you know and it it showed like what level has charged you know but for me for me Charles it’s a present you know I’m gonna I’m gonna smash him easy because his style for me it’s the best style you know um I heard someone say that uh you would like to when when on Saturday and then turn around fight in Abu Dhabi so that your parents and family can can watch you fight yeah you know nobody can come from Russia here my old relatives my old parents friends leaving Russia to get to get in UFC it’s so difficult to get Visa you know and like my father never been in in us so and I want to fight in Abu Dhabi you know he can come to watch you know it’s like he gonna be happy you know it’s super excited for me too to see my family to support me to be close to me you know when I cut weight and uh this is the best case scenario to win this fight and uh get fight in October in like some big names like darush or physive or or whatever like just top fighters you know yeah gotcha thank you thank you Armin over here um out of those three names you mentioned which one excites you the most Darius and uh I know you want to fight a higher ranked guy next in case they don’t give you that would you still entertain a fight with Ronaldo moycano uh to be honest my maikana has very like you know hard injured you know like he it takes a lot of time to recovery maybe like a year I don’t want to wait him so for sure if I’m gonna be in top five and he’s he’s gonna be close to me you know guys for me like whatever like I’m gonna fight with everybody and uh it it if that fight makes sense I’m gonna take this way and uh I know you mentioned him earlier but Grant Dawson said not too long ago that both you and Silva were at ATT leading up to this and that you on one side of the mat and he was on another side and he described it as weird how would you describe this experience you know for me for me it’s okay you know for me doesn’t matter I don’t I don’t hide my trainings or some like things they can watch on my YouTube like all my trainings all my fights it doesn’t make sense he can watch my my uh [Music] my sparings because what he can do like if I’m if I’m better you know like he can like be uh for two weeks two months like he can like I don’t know like he can beat me for two months even like he gonna have full training camp so it for me it doesn’t matter and I don’t feel weird things it’s okay for me you know I just trained I do my I did my work and uh we we had we had a different culture so uh that’s why I’m okay and you see uh American top team is super big team and there are a lot of uh 155ers you know and uh hopefully they they there are a lot of different rooms and uh you can train in one room he can train in other room and that’s why it’s okay if it was like small small like a small gym yeah for sure it’s it would it it could be like very difficult to train you know and uh some people may not know but you actually did hockey for a while before yeah started training um how was that transition like going into MMA from hockey yeah I used to play 10 years hockey and the transition was uh uh the Hawkeyes team didn’t pick me you know to to like to the good organization you know and that’s why I just maybe waste 10 years of my life you know and uh yeah but I’m happy you know I I was enjoying when I played hockey and maybe when I transitioned to MMA I had a lot of energy you know and it’s like kind of different different sport if I wrestle 10 years and then move to transition to MMA I still like you know I think I could be tired of that maths you know like trainings like you know like like yeah some bruises but hockey is different you know did you ever get into any fights when you’re playing hockey yeah yeah I was crazy like and uh I like fights you know when I was when I was kid you know and I was I I couldn’t talk you know too much I wanted to like knock him out you know like right away so I didn’t have patience you know when I was kid like I went crazy super fast you know and uh I couldn’t even speak like if someone like says some bad words to me never I’m gonna talk to him like yeah just just smash him you know thank you hey Armin just one question for me brother um it was back in January you were talking about Michael Chandler and uh you would put a tweet out there saying that you know he should maybe have a fight with the new generation of MMA and uh you called him you’d said that he had the lowest IQ in the division do you still believe that yeah I still believe that because you know if I’m if I’m a good freestyle wrestler I gotta wrestle him you know why I gotta like Miss thousand punches and lose fight okay fans like it but but it doesn’t make sense you know he lost all his fights like he goes crazy and even like he’s a wrestler he’s like do like some takedowns like crazy takedowns like he from the like second floor he threw his opening you know like do some crazy things but he couldn’t he couldn’t even like hold them and spend a lot of energy he’s a like Fighter for one round and if I was him you know if I was him I I just wrestle like and like you know I would be smart he because he is explosive he has good resting you know good striking but during the fight he does some crazy things yeah it’s like exciting fight you know I like watch his fights but for him it’s like for me it’s stupid you know thank you thank you guys