Tsarukyan says distracted Topuria prioritised media over training before Gaethje upset

Arman Tsarukyan has attributed Ilia Topuria’s stunning defeat to Justin Gaethje at UFC White House to a lack of focus in the training camp, arguing the Georgian-Spaniard was too distracted by media commitments to prepare properly for the lightweight title defence.

Gaethje brutally dismantled the previously unbeaten Topuria across four rounds on Sunday, forcing his corner to throw in the towel and handing the champion his first professional loss in one of the biggest upsets in recent UFC history. Topuria, who entered the fight as a massive favourite, had publicly predicted a first-round knockout and even updated his Instagram bio to 18-0 before the bout — a post that has since been removed.

“I think this loss is going to teach him a lot of lessons — not to be overconfident and to respect your opponent,” Tsarukyan said on The Ariel Helwani Show. “And keep grinding. I think he was more focused on his media stuff more than training camp.”

The level of pre-fight confidence Topuria displayed was extraordinary even by the standards of combat sports. He claimed to have filmed footage of how he would score the knockout, to be released after the fight, and threw a victory party the day before the bout. Gaethje, now 28-5, had publicly warned that Topuria would regret his words if the fight extended beyond the first round — a prediction that proved accurate.

Topuria, now 17-1, had entered the contest as one of the most decorated unbeaten fighters in the sport. His defeat to Gaethje ends that unblemished record and raises significant questions about how he approaches his next camp and title rematch campaign.

Tsarukyan, himself a top contender at lightweight, framed the loss as a necessary lesson rather than a permanent setback, suggesting Topuria has the talent to bounce back if he recalibrates his mindset. Whether the UFC’s lightweight division now reshapes around Gaethje as champion remains to be seen, but Sunday’s result has fundamentally altered the landscape at 155 pounds.