Arman Tsarukyan: Ilia Topuria making excuses by claiming Justin Gaethje cheated
Arman Tsarukyan thinks Ilia Topuria's recent statement on his UFC Freedom 250 loss is a bad look.
Topuria (17-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC) suffered significant damage in his UFC lightweight title setback to Justin Gaethje (28-5 MMA, 11-5 UFC) in June, when he broke both his orbital bones and had his face marked up. Topuria has now been cleared, and is angling for a rematch with Gaethje after suffering his first-career loss.
Topuria accused Gaethje of cheating by claiming that "The Highlight" put "weird things" in his gloves, which Gaethje scoffed at. Tsarukyan (23-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) isn't a fan of how Topuria is handling the loss.
"Just excuses," Tsarukyan told ESPN Deportes. "How the commission can let him wear different gloves? They stay in, and check in. Just excuses. You've got to take what really happened. You've got to start with what you did wrong, not finding excuses and talking about gloves."
Tsarukyan will look to emerge as No. 1 contender when he takes on Mauricio Ruffy (14-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) in Saturday's UFC 331 co-main event at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles (Paramount+).
