Paddy Pimblett has publicly discredited Arman Tsarukyan's status as the top lightweight contender. Pimblett also urged Tsarukyan to abandon his wrestling-heavy approach.
Paddy Pimblett took aim at Arman Tsarukyan on July 10, publicly dismissing the Russian's standing as the lightweight division's top contender and calling on him to change his fighting style.
Pimblett, 31, is ranked sixth in the lightweight division and carries a 23-4 record fighting out of Next Generation MMA Liverpool. The Englishman stands five-foot-ten with a 73-inch reach and has built his reputation largely on aggressive striking and submission hunting, averaging 5.49 significant strikes per minute at 52 percent accuracy while posting 1.2 submission attempts per 15 minutes. His comments signal that he sees himself as a more legitimate force in the division than his ranking might suggest.
Tsarukyan, the man in his crosshairs, sits at number one in the lightweight rankings with an identical 23-3 record. The 29-year-old Russian trains out of American Top Team and has constructed his contender status on relentless wrestling, averaging 3.26 takedowns per 15 minutes — one of the highest rates in the division. It is precisely that approach Pimblett criticized, urging Tsarukyan to abandon the grappling-heavy game plan that has defined his recent run.
Why it matters
- Tsarukyan is the division's top-ranked contender, so any challenge to his status carries weight in the lightweight title picture.
- The stylistic contrast is sharp: Pimblett's submission offense meets Tsarukyan's elite takedown volume, making a potential matchup between them a genuine clash of complementary threats.
- Pimblett jumping five spots in the rankings to reach Tsarukyan would require notable wins, meaning the callout also functions as a statement of intent about his own ambitions.
