Ilia Topuria's reputation as a gym legend precedes him. Before capturing UFC gold, stories circulated about the Georgian-Spanish fighter devastating sparring partners at Sanford MMA. Videos emerged of Topuria dropping training partners with vicious body shots. Even his close friend and UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili refuses to spar with him anymore.

By every account, Topuria brings the same intensity to training that he displays inside the Octagon.

Arman Tsarukyan isn't buying it.

The top-ranked lightweight contender questions whether Topuria's gym dominance would survive contact with elite wrestlers. According to Tsarukyan, the featherweight champion exclusively trains his striking and carefully selects opponents who won't test his grappling.

Ilia Topuria is infamous for his gym stories.

Prior to winning even his first world title, there were multiple tales of Topuria showing up at a world-class gym like Sanford MMA and then knocking out a bunch of his sparring partners. pic.twitter.com/example

— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) October 4, 2025

"If I ever fight [Topuria] I'll make him tired with my wrestling," Tsarukyan declared. "He won't be able to handle the pace I'm going to impose on him. He spends all day hitting pads and boxing. Nobody takes him down during his trainings. He brings in some random sparring partners, drops them, and everyone thinks he's so great. I think if we send him to any gym in Chechnya or Dagestan, amateurs there will be taking him down and smashing him."

The criticism carries weight coming from Tsarukyan, whose wrestling credentials include training camps in the Caucasus region that produced Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev. Those gyms specialize in the grinding, relentless wrestling that has dominated UFC lightweight division for years.

Topuria's wrestling has held up admirably through his UFC run. But Tsarukyan raises a legitimate question: Topuria hasn't faced an elite 155-pound wrestler yet. No one with Tsarukyan's credentials or Makhachev's championship pedigree has tested whether the featherweight king's grappling matches his striking.

Before Tsarukyan gets his chance to prove his theory, he must navigate Dan Hooker in the UFC Qatar main event. The veteran contender represents a dangerous test that could derail any future matchup with Topuria.

As for the featherweight champion, he remains unbooked. Whether Tsarukyan's prediction proves prophetic or merely trash talk from a distance depends on whether these two ever share the Octagon.