The UFC has been warned against booking rising star Paddy Pimblett against Arman Tsarukyan next.
Talk of a fight between Tsarukyan and Pimblett intensified in April after the latter’s latest victory in his fast climb up the lightweight ladder in MMA’s leading promotion.
Pimblett dominated Michael Chandler at UFC 314 in Miami, stopping him via TKO in round three of their pay-per-view co-main event.
The result pushed ‘The Baddy’ up to No. 8 in the rankings and has likely left him with a guaranteed clash against a top-five opponent next time out.
But while a growing feud with top contender Tsarukyan would appear to have put that matchup as the leading option, one legend of the sport doesn’t think the bout makes sense for the UFC.
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Chael Sonnen warns UFC against eliminating a title challenger with Arman Tsarukyan vs Paddy Pimblett booking
Former middleweight and light heavyweight UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen recently reacted to the potential clash between Tsarukyan and Pimblett during a video uploaded to his YouTube channel.
After Tsarukyan withdrew from UFC 311 on short notice, costing him a title shot, the Armenian lightweight sees Pimblett as the man to get him back to the gold.
Sonnen, however, used an example from his own career to explain why Dana White and the UFC should be against the matchup coming to fruition in the current circumstances.
“Tsarukyan would like to fight Paddy ‘The Baddy’. I gotta tell you, I’m in on that fight five different ways, but I have one problem with it.
“Paddy is on a meteoric rise…but that’s actually my problem” Sonnen continued. “You have a guy that can fight for a title and he can sell out an arena and he can win the title…that same thing is true for Tsarukyan.
“You put them together — and I ran into this problem myself…me versus Lyoto Machida…they squashed it, and the reason they squashed it is Dana [White] and Lorenzo [Fertitta] talked and said, ‘Hey, you have two guys that can both main event for titles. You put them together, you’re eliminating a contender.’
“I do feel like we’re facing that right now. Tsarukyan is too good to put with Paddy, that’s how I feel. Paddy is too good to put with Tsarukyan, that’s how I feel.”
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Arman Tsarukyan’s interesting reason for wanting to fight Paddy Pimblett
After a war of words on social media and during interviews set the stage for their rivalry, Tsarukyan recently expanded on his strong desire to share the cage with the charismatic Scouser.
More than just his title ambitions at 155 pounds, ‘Akhalkalakets’ is looking to expand his fanbase, especially when it comes to the United Kingdom.
“Maybe he wants to fight at the end of this year, but I want to fight this summer and the end of this year,” Tsarukyan said to Red Corner MMA.
“I’ll take that because he has a big name, he just beat Michael Chandler, and he has a six or seven [fight] win streak.
“He’s never lost in the UFC. It makes sense to get back and to get more fans from the UK,” Tsarukyan added.
Whether the UFC will grant Tsarukyan his wish and put the fight together or agree with Sonnen’s assessment remains to be seen.