Mauricio Ruffy anticipated Arman Tsarukyan‘s grappling threat, and there’s no doubt the Brazilian trained hard for it. However, the Armenian proved he’s dangerous everywhere by landing a vicious knockout in the UFC 331 co-main event, leaving fans screaming for a title shot.

‘The Batman’ started the first round by keeping his distance to avoid Ruffy’s sharp punches. Even so, the Sao Paulo-based fighter landed a well-timed shot that got the Armenian’s attention. Tsarukyan then found an opening to shoot a single leg and gladly took it. But Ruffy got back to his feet and continued the fight on the feet. The action moved to a clinch exchange, where Tsarukyan landed a solid elbow, and that was the read he needed.

Tsarukyan sensed that Ruffy was thinking too much about the takedown threat. He showed great fight IQ by faking a level change and then landing two back-to-back elbows to put the Brazilian out cold against the fence. The referee immediately stepped in to stop the fight at 4:56 of the first round, just 04 seconds before the bell, handing Tsarukyan arguably the most impressive victory of his career so far.

Right after winning the bout, Arman Tsarukyan made his intentions clean that he wants to fight for the title next.

“And, of course, for my next fight, for the title fight, I need that finish,” Tsarukyan said at the Octagon interview. “And I knew that I was going to finish him.”

Understandably, Arman Tsarukyan pulling off a knockout victory surprised a lot of people. He has built a reputation for his exceptional grappling, paired with an unparalleled ability to submit opponents from complex positions. The Armenian’s fight against Dan Hooker was a masterclass, as he arm-triangle choked the Kiwi at UFC Qatar last year. However, that doesn’t mean Tsarukyan lacks highlight-reel knockouts on his resume. In fact, he has quite a few in the UFC. 

Before UFC 331, Tsarukyan’s last KO win came against Beneil Dariush in the first round of a 2023 Fight Night event in Texas. That same year, he also knocked out Joaquim Silva. He holds two other stellar knockout finishes over Joel Alvarez in 2022 and Christos Giagos in 2021.

The UFC lightweight contender clearly possesses a more significant knockout threat than many would have thought. In fact, Tsarukyan’s record shows he’s more of a knockout artist than a submission specialist.

Of his 24 career wins, the Armenian has 10 by knockout, 6 by submission and 8 by decision. Given those numbers, it’s not remotely surprising that he knocked out a striker like Mauricio Ruffy in California tonight. Now comes the inevitable question: will Tsarukyan get the title shot?

Despite being a top-ranked contender for a long time, Tsarukyan hasn’t found Dana White keen on handing him one. After he withdrew from his first title opportunity against Islam Makhachev at UFC 311 in January 2025, the UFC CEO made it clear he would have to climb back up before fighting for the championship again. More than a year later, the situation of ‘The Batman’ hadn’t changed much.

Ahead of his UFC 331 bout, Tsarukyan claimed he would fight for the title after beating Ruffy. However, White ended up putting a big question mark on that claim, stating that only the performance at UFC 331 would decide his fate.

Though the UFC CEO didn’t outright reject the possibility, it was close to a no. Yet, the lightweight champion had a completely different thought about Tsarukyan being the rightful contender. 

Justin Gaethje is currently entangled in a beef with Ilia Topuria after the Spaniard accused him of glove tampering at UFC White House. Since then, a rematch between them has been making rounds. But when reflecting on his fight with Tsarukyan in July, ‘The Highlight’ said the Armenian deserves to face him far more than ‘El Matador’ does. And after seeing the 29-year-old’s performance, Gaethje is unlikely to walk back those earlier comments.

With that in mind, impressed UFC fans are now demanding that the promotion and matchmakers give Tsarukyan his rightful shot at the lightweight gold he has been chasing for quite a while.

Fans demand title shot for Arman Tsarukyan after dominant UFC 311 victory

One fan quickly chimed in, asking, “Title shot now??” Another fan wrote, “Give this man the title fight.” Echoing the same sentiment, a third user demanded a title shot for Tsarukyan, writing, “GIVE ARMAN TSARUKYAN THE TITLE SHOT!!”

That’s not all. Another user feels Tsarukyan deserves the title shot over Ilia Topuria after beating Ruffy by knockout. The fan wrote, “Give Arman title shot cuz he deserved it even before Ilia Topuria.”

Currently, the lightweight champion’s ongoing animosity with Topuria would definitely play a big role in selling the fight if the UFC ultimately settles on the rematch. But in terms of pure merit, Tsarukyan does deserve the shot, particularly after putting on a show inside the Crypto.com Arena.

As for Topuria’s return, Dana White has already said that a rematch with Justin Gaethje or a fight against Paddy Pimblett interests the matchmakers. So if the Spaniard gets the grudge match against the Liverpudlian, Tsarukyan could possibly land his next title shot.

The reactions to the Armenian deserving the next shot continued, with another fan writing, “Give Batman the belt 😭😂.” Following that, another user commented, “Them damned elbows, fairplay to arman titleshot next.”

Riding the wave of demands, a different fan believes Tsarukyan’s latest win couldn’t have justified a title shot more: “Never has a title shot been so justified.” Another user has already sent a warning to the lightweight champion, writing, “WE ARE COMING FOR GAETHJE.”

That said, Tsarukyan has clearly done his part in getting the fans to demand a title shot for him. But will his performance actually convince Dana White, the man who makes that decision? We’ll have to wait and see.