Arman Tsarukyan says he’ll retire Alexander Volkanovski and offer him a new career

Arman Tsarukyan believes that Alexander Volkanovski would leave the sport after losing to him.

The #2-ranked lightweight contender is still focused on the 155-pound belt, with Tsarukyan saying that he’s been given a date for his next fight.

Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje headlining the White House card and unifying the belts means that anyone else is going to be waiting some time before they get a shot at the winner.

In the meantime, Tsarukyan has said that he’s serious about potentially dropping down a division, which could bring him face-to-face with the featherweight champion.

Arman Tsarukyan wants to hire Alexander Volkanovski as his chef after beating him at featherweight

Alexander Volkanovski was unsurprisingly happy to face Arman Tsarukyan if that matchup became a serious possibility.

The winner of next Saturday’s featherweight clash between Lerone Murphy and Movsar Evloev would likely have something to say about that.

One thing that Tsarukyan and Volkanovski have in common is their love of high quality food, which the Armenian made reference to when responding to a fan comment.

“Yes, it makes sense,” he said following a comment suggesting this fight should be next in a video on Aviator’s YouTube channel. “I’ll beat Volk and then I’ll hire him as my chef because when I beat him, he’s going to retire and he’s gotta do something and I can pay good money for him, to have a good chef like him.”

Ahead of his latest title defense, the featherweight champion said that he wasn’t planning on retiring but a big loss could have changed his plans.

Volkanovski went on to beat Diego Lopes for a second time in even more one-sided fashion than their first encounter in 2025.

Arman Tsarukyan is serious about committing to the featherweight division

In a recent appearance on the JAXXON podcast, Arman Tsarukyan said that he’s confident he could make featherweight now that he walks around close to 175 pounds.

The lightweight contender moving down and getting a featherweight title shot would likely be looked at by some fans as a move that doesn’t help the division.

However, Tsarukyan said that if he did make this move, it wouldn’t be just a quick stop to keep himself busy, he’d commit to being a featherweight.

“In the division, there is no big names and if they put me in, I’ll stay there, do maybe three or four fights there and then go up in my division,” he said. “My body is able to do that.”