Arman Tsarukyan Splits the Panel: Is He Already the No. 1 Lightweight?

Arman Tsarukyan hasn't fought for the belt yet, but two of the five voters on our global rankings panel already have him penciled in as the best lightweight alive. That's the headline from the latest update: despite Justin Gaethje holding the UFC title, Tsarukyan came within a whisker of the No. 1 spot at 155 pounds after his knockout of Mauricio Ruffy at UFC 331 this past Saturday.

The math behind the near-coup is simple. Tsarukyan is 11-1 over his last 12 bouts, he just produced a Knockout of the Year contender, and speculative odds have him opening as a heavy favorite over the champion. Two panelists gave him the top vote; the other three stuck with the incumbent. Split decisions on a ranking sheet don't win you a belt, but they tell you where the momentum sits.

Why He's Next

A finish that loud is hard for matchmakers to file away. Ruffy came in ranked No. 10 in the division and left as another line on Tsarukyan's highlight reel. The Armenian has spent the better part of three years beating the people you're supposed to beat to earn a shot, and there's no obvious contender left to leapfrog him.

The rest of the lightweight ledger reads like a demolition site. Paddy Pimblett stopped Benoit Saint Denis, Quillan Salkilld upset Mateusz Gamrot, Salahdine Parnasse got past Dan Hooker, and Rafael Fiziev beat Manuel Torres. Max Holloway also picked up a win over Conor McGregor, though that one came up at welterweight. Plenty of names moved; none of them moved past Tsarukyan.

The Bigger Board

Tsarukyan wasn't the only story this cycle. At light heavyweight, Navajo Stirling upset No. 6 Jan Blachowicz, and Aleksandar Rakic — now 15-6 — beat Marcin Tybura in a heavyweight crossover before dropping off the 205 board. Alex Pereira, 13-4 with 11 knockouts, sits at No. 3 in that division and is expected in a title eliminator next, his last outing a second-round TKO loss to Ciryl Gane.

The women's bantamweight and featherweight divisions are stacked with title-level bouts on the calendar too: Kayla Harrison defends against Amanda Nunes at UFC 334, while Alexander Volkanovski meets Movsar Evloev at UFC 333. But the loudest argument on the entire sheet belongs to Tsarukyan, who has done everything but sign a title-fight contract. If the favorites hold, that formality won't be far behind.