Dana White confirms Arman Tsarukyan vs. Dan Hooker is No. 1 contender fight, Arman responds to threat
The stakes for UFC Qatar have been significantly raised.
That’s because Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Lightweights Arman Tsarukyan and Dan Hooker, who headline UFC Qatar next month (Sat., Oct. 4, 2025) will square off for the right to challenge Ilia Topuria next year, UFC CEO Dana White confirmed during the UFC 320 post-fight press conference (watch here).
The announcement comes amid heated trash talk between the two, with Hooker even saying he’d fight Tsarukyan “on site” during fight week. White downplayed the threats while acknowledging the combustible nature of fight-week encounters.
“I mean, every weekend when we do these things, there’s all kinds of crazy shit that happens,” White said. “Just the shit that happens in the UFC P.I — I mean, imagine the people who run into each other over there all the time. It’s part of the business. And you know, we don’t beef up any extra security because we think guys are talking shit. It’s part of the business.”
Tsarukyan — who has been in UFC purgatory after a late withdrawal from UFC 311 — didn’t take Hooker’s online bravado seriously.
“It’s not personal, it’s business,” Tsarukyan told Ariel Helwani. “In real life, he is gonna shut his mouth, and he won’t say anything about me. If its media or a lot of people, of course, he can do something. [I’ve never seen him in person], but I’m going to see him in Qatar.”
“He knows media and security are going to be there. He’s gonna behave like a hooker — he’s like that with cameras because he knows nobody’s gonna touch him,” Tsarukyan added. “He’s going to talk about but a lot of brothers are going to come with me, and hopefully they’re gonna stop me. I shouldn’t do anything crazy. I just got to be focused because I’m going to have 25 minutes to beat his ass.”
Arman Tsarukyan has a message for Dan Hooker after his latest comments:
"On the real life, [Hooker] is gonna shut his mouth and he won't say anything about me… He's gonna behave like a hooker.
He behaves like that with cameras because he knows nobody gonna touch him… A lot… pic.twitter.com/BnpZ4MlJt4
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) October 7, 2025
Hooker’s aggressive posture and Tsarukyan’s cool confidence set the table for a combustible main event. With a No. 1 contender spot — and a shot at Topuria — on the line, expect fight week in Qatar to be tense, heated, and impossible to ignore.
