Tsarukyan Strengthens Title Case With UFC 331 Switch

Arman Tsarukyan moved closer to a lightweight title shot by accepting a new opponent for UFC 331 after Charles Oliveira withdrew from their planned rematch.

Tsarukyan will now face Mauricio Ruffy in next month's co-main event, per BJPenn.com. Oliveira stepped away from the matchup to grieve the death of longtime teammate Allan Nascimento. The original bout was set to run back their instant classic from UFC 300.

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Cormier Says Ruffy Fight Proves Tsarukyan's Readiness

UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier told his YouTube audience that the switch strengthened Tsarukyan's case for a shot at the belt. "Arman Tsarukyan saying yes to this fight, I believe, strengthens his case over anything," Cormier said. "The one thing that made it hard for Arman to get the title shot was that so many people thought that he deserved it because of how the last fight scheduled with Islam Makhachev went down. Now he's saying yes to everybody and everything."

Cormier acknowledged that Ruffy carries less name value than Oliveira despite beating a contender at the White House event. Tsarukyan is coming off a win over Dan Hooker at UFC Qatar and had a canceled title shot against Islam Makhachev at UFC 311.

🎟️ Get tickets: Buy tickets to UFC 331 on Ticketmaster →

If Tsarukyan beats Ruffy at UFC 331, he could challenge current lightweight champion Justin Gaethje in his next appearance.

Reported via:

• BJPenn — Arman Tsarukyan ‘strengthened his case’ for title shot by accepting new UFC 331 matchup