Arman Tsarukyan Shrugs Off Ruffy's A-List Camp Ahead of UFC 331

Arman Tsarukyan isn't losing sleep over Mauricio Ruffy's guest list. Ahead of Saturday's UFC 331 co-main event in Los Angeles, the #2-ranked lightweight was asked about Ruffy training alongside featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski (28-4) and former middleweight king Israel Adesanya. His response was blunt: those are different fighters, and he considers himself better everywhere.

The five-round bout at Crypto.com Arena is a probable title eliminator, and Tsarukyan brings the harder résumé into it — 23-3 with a six-submission grappling base and a five-fight winning streak that includes an arm-triangle finish of Dan Hooker in the second round. He figures his ability to blend wrestling and striking is the tool Ruffy's borrowed coaches can't neutralize.

Respect, But Only for a Round

Tsarukyan isn't pretending Ruffy is harmless. The former Fighting Nerds standout arrives on back-to-back knockouts over Rafael Fiziev and Michael Chandler, carrying some of the nastiest striking in the division. Tsarukyan called the style genuinely awkward — unlike anyone he's faced — and admitted the opening five minutes could get dicey. His read: survive round one, and the fight tilts his way from round two onward.

That confidence tracks with where he sits in the pecking order. A win Saturday makes him the clearest candidate for the next lightweight title shot at Justin Gaethje, and Tsarukyan doesn't seem worried about anyone jumping the queue.

The Topuria Problem

Except one man is already talking. Former champion Ilia Topuria has been campaigning for a Gaethje rematch, floating a claim that Gaethje loaded his gloves in their first meeting. Tsarukyan waved it off as a flimsy excuse, and when asked whether beating Ruffy locks in his own shot at Gaethje, he kept it short.

UFC 331 is headlined by a flyweight title rematch between champion Joshua Van and Alexandre Pantoja (30-6), who Van dethroned by first-round KO. Deiveson Figueiredo, meanwhile, is booked separately for UFC 332 against Payton Talbott. But the story on this card that shapes the lightweight map is Tsarukyan-Ruffy — and Tsarukyan clearly intends to end the queue debate himself.