Arman Tsarukyan wants Beneil Dariush matchup done before the end of the year

Arman Tsarukyan is prepared to join the top of the lightweight class in the UFC.

It's no secret that the 155-pound weight class in MMA is the most talented in the world. The upcoming generation of mainstays, including fighters like the 26-year-old Tsarukyan, are poised to realise their full potential.

Tsarukyan's most recent contest included an unexpected opponent in unranked Brazilian prospect Joaquim Silva. With the exception of a brief scare, the battle was clearly in favour of Tsarukyan, who eventually stopped his opponent in round three with ground-and-pound shots. Before defeating Silva, Tsarukyan had already shown interest in a high-profile matchup. Now facing Beneil Dariush, a seasoned 155-pound elite, he hopes to make it three wins in a row.

“I think they’re working on it,” Tsarukyan told Submission Radio. “I don’t have exact information but he wants to fight at the end of this year and I want to fight and I just see me and Dariush can fight. I think that fight [is] gonna happen.

“Dariush in the top 15 is the nicest guy, he’s the humble guy. I know him personally and we trained once together. I know him. He’s [such a] good guy but this is sport and he wants to fight with everybody [like] me. I know he’ll take that fight with me because for him it makes sense because he lost his last fight.”