Arman Tsarukyan's Team Targets Oliveira Rematch

Arman Tsarukyan is not sitting around waiting for Justin Gaethje to decide his future.

With the new lightweight champion ruled out for the remainder of 2026 and serving a 180-day medical suspension following his upset of Ilia Topuria at UFC Freedom 250, Tsarukyan's manager Sayat Abdrakhmanov has identified a rematch with Charles Oliveira as the most attractive path to keeping his fighter active and relevant in the title picture.

"Taking into account that Gaethje just fought and is unlikely to return to the octagon in the next six months and that Arman needs to stay active, the option with Oliveira is the most attractive," Abdrakhmanov

Oliveira presents a fight that works on multiple levels. Tsarukyan holds a split decision victory over the Brazilian from UFC 300 in 2024 — a result Oliveira has never accepted cleanly — and a rematch carries genuine commercial appeal given how competitive their first meeting was.

Oliveira is also actively pursuing the Gaethje title fight himself, having offered a winner-takes-all BMF proposition in the days after Freedom 250. A second fight with Tsarukyan, with the lightweight mandatory picture at stake, would be a meaningful occasion for both men.

Tsarukyan has not been idle since their first meeting. He submitted Dan Hooker in the second round last November and has remained active under the Real American Freestyle banner, competing regularly enough to suggest his conditioning and sharpness have not suffered during the wait for a title shot.