Arman Tsarukyan has hit back at Michael Chandler after the former Bellator champion stated last week that Tsarukyan made a big mistake in turning down a title fight with Islam Makhachev. Tsarukyan was apparently offered a shot at the UFC lightweight champion in the immediate aftermath of his win over Charles Oliveira at UFC 300, but surprisingly turned it down. 

Tsarukyan’s win over ‘Do Bronx’ saw him leapfrog the Brazilian into the #1 contender spot. The Armenian was asked to face Makhachev in the main event at UFC 302 which  takes place on June 1^st but declined the offer due to the quick turnaround after 300. The  fight was then offered to Dustin Poirier who accepted, and it seems Tsarukyan is now  back waiting in line again for his chance. 

After Chandler told Ariel Helwani on a recent appearance on The MMA Hour that he didn’t understand why Arman Tsarukyan didn’t take the fight, Tsarukyan took to social media to fire back. He tweeted: 

“I don’t expect you to understand Michael Chandler. We are not on the same level. I am  here to be the champ. You are just waiting for a paycheck. I also don’t understand why you waited Conor fight for 2 years, you could’ve lost 4 exciting fights during that time”. 

I don’t expect you to understand @MikeChandlerMMA. We are not on the same level. I am here to be the champ. You are just waiting for a paycheck. I also don’t understand why you waited Conor fight for 2 years, you could’ve lost 4 exciting fights during that time pic.twitter.com/FfysM0YurV

— Arman Tsarukyan UFC (@ArmanUfc) April 23, 2024

Chandler is finally slated to fight McGregor during International Fight Week on June 29^th after a long wait since the pair coached opposite each other on season 31 of The Ultimate Fighter. 

The most likely next step for Arman Tsarukyan could be to fight the winner of Makhachev v Poirier.

After months of speculation, the UFC have confirmed that UFC 304 will be heading to Manchester’s brand-new Co-Op Live arena on Saturday July 27^th.

No headliners have been announced, but the event is expected to feature a double-header with both Welterweight Champion Leon Edwards (22-3 1NC) and Interim Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall (14-3) defending their gold, with the latter going as far as announcing he would be on the card. The organisation have confirmed that the event will be taking place at US primetime, with prelims kicking off at 11pm BST and the main card at 3am BST.

This will be the UFC’s return to Manchester for the first time since UFC 204 in October 2016, which saw Michael Bisping (30-9) defend his Middleweight Championship against longtime rival Dan Henderson (32-15), with Gegard Mousasi (49-9) defeating Vitor Belfort (26-14) in the co-main event. Current champ Edwards was on the card too, defeating Albert Tumenov (25-4) on the prelims.

Aspinall is looking to follow in the footsteps of Bisping and become the second hometown fighter to defend their belt in the city, having been born in Salford, and living and training in the Greater Manchester area. The expectation is that he will fight Curtis Blaydes (18-4) in a rematch of their July 2022 bout in which he suffered a catastrophic knee injury just fifteen seconds into the fight.

There is somewhat more uncertainty in regards to Edwards’ opponent, with him being offered and accepting three names for UFC 300. The most likely outcome seems to be a rematch with the #2 ranked Welterweight Belal Muhammad (23-3 1NC), who has proven himself more than deserving of what is a long-awaited shot, having gone ten fights unbeaten, including a no contest with Edwards.

Signed for the card is a featherweight bout between London’s Nathaniel Wood (19-6) and Daniel Pineda (28-15), as reported by Al Zullino, with a fight between ranked featherweights Arnold Allen (19-3) and Giga Chikadze (15-3) also reportedly in the works.

This will be the first MMA event at Co-Op Live, which was due to open yesterday, but delayed at the eleventh hour due to power supply issues. The current expectation is for the arena to open on Saturday with a concert by The Black Keys. It will be the largest indoor arena in the UK with a capacity up to 23,500 for concerts but it is unknown what this figure will be for combat sports. The venue is located at Etihad Campus, just a five minute walk from Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium.

Tickets for the event will go on sale on June 7^th. You can register your interest now here.

Multiple fights of significant importance will go down at ONE Fight Night 22: Sundell vs. Diachkova next week, and one of those is the featherweight MMA clash between Halil Amir and Akbar Abdullaev. 

Both stars will bring an undefeated professional slate to Bangkok, Thailand’s Lumpinee Boxing Stadium at the Saturday, 4th May event, meaning someone’s 0 will have to go. 

Sitting proudly at 10-0, Amir’s “No Mercy” moniker couldn’t be more fitting. The Turkish powerhouse has racked up three wins since making his debut in ONE Championship in 2022, with two of those coming by knockout. 

Halil Amir kicked off his promotional tenure by steamrolling former World Title challenger Timofey Nastyukhin inside two rounds and followed that up by stopping the momentum of fellow rising talent Maurice Abevi via decision in April 2023.

“No Mercy’s” name was already on many fans’ minds after those back-to-back victories, but his next fight would solidify him as one to watch.

The 29-year-old returned at ONE Fight Night 16 last November and earned his quickest finish yet by knocking out Pakistani punisher Ahmed Mujtaba in the first round. Now undoubtedly knocking on the door of the featherweight MMA rankings, Amir will be looking to keep his hype train going against Abdullaev next Saturday.

However, that will be a lot easier said than done, considering the caliber of the Krygz star’s skill set. Abdullaev also boasts a 10-0 professional record, and he will be hunting his third straight finish in ONE Championship next month. 

“Bakal” has yet to go the distance in his career, with nine knockouts and a submission comprising his slate so far.

Abdullaev debuted in ONE at ONE Fight Night 8 in March 2023, where he dispatched South Korean scrapper Oh Ho Taek inside the opening frame. 

The 26-year-old striker returned four months later at ONE Fight Night 12 and handed Aaron Canarte the first loss of his career, ending the Ecuadorian’s streak of 10 wins with another first-round demolition job. 

Their respective recent histories would suggest that Abdullaev will come out on top at ONE Fight Night 22, given that he easily held his own against a previously unbeaten star. But there is little doubt Amir’s stoic style will cause him problems, so their clash should be a firefight with the potential of stealing the show when it does down on 4th May.