Arman Tsarukyan returns after a 19 month break to fight Dan Hooker in the main event of UFC Qatar this weekend (Sat. Nov. 22, 2025). And while the two men have had plenty to say to each other in the lead-up to this fight, things were relatively chill when they finally faced off in Doha.
There had been some speculation that UFC might need extra security in Qatar, but while Hooker hasn’t been shy to trash talk Tsarukyan, it’s all been on the level according to “Akhalkalakets.”
“He can talk whatever he wants, he just make me laugh,” Tsarukyan said in a new interview with Shakiel Mahjouri. “He never talked personal to me, you know? If he said something about my personal life, I would take him out from the room and talk to him. So it’s just business. It’s just fighting. But there are levels of trash talk, if he touched me or my family or something with bad words. Yeah.”
“But about being a spoiled kid, about all that? I understand.”
Lightweight is another division with several fighters vying for the next shot at champion Ilia Topuria, and the UFC has left the question deliberately unanswered as Justin Gaethje, Paddy Pimblett, and Arman Tsarukyan all clamor for a title fight. In Arman’s mind, a win over Hooker makes him undeniable.
“They have to give me title fight because No. 1 contender beat again a top fighter in main event,” he argued. “So they already know they have to give it to me.”
Tsarukyan also addressed his relationship with the UFC, which was damaged after he pulled out of a UFC 311 title shot against Islam Makhachev at the last minute due to a bad back.
“I mean, they wanna make me a champion because they put me on the main event and give me a good fighter,” he said. “So they’re trying to make me a star to fight for the title, and they treat me very well. They gave me new contract. Everything is going good. The relationship is same, and that’s all.”
And if he smashes Dan Hooker in Qatar and the UFC calls him up about fighting Ilia Topuria in January, Tsarukyan will be ready.
“No, I don’t wanna wait,” he told MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck. “If I perform very well and the UFC says, ‘Can you fight in January?’ I’ll take that fight right away.”
