Arman Tsarukyan responds to Ilia Topuria: 'At least I'm a man'

The war of words is heating up between lightweight champion Ilia Topuria and top contender Arman Tsarukyan . In a recent interview, Topuria was critical of Tsarukyan's headline-making antics outside of the cage. The 29-year-old has struck a fan on his walk to the octagon,  head butted an opponent during face-offs, engaged in a  post-fight brawl  at RAF 6, got thrown off an airplane and tackled MMA icon Urijah Faber  off the stage during their RAF 8 match last weekend.

Topuria called Tsarukyan 'dumb' and 'a f*cking kid' that flaunts his father's wealth. On Wednesday, Tsarukyan responded to Topuria's comments during an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show . "He's jealous," Tsarukyan said.

"He wants to say like I'm nothing and if you see like offer me him, he's not going to take it because he wants to tell everybody in this world that I'm not in his level. He was saying like [Charles] Oliveira is good fighter, [Justin] Gaethje is good fighter, Max Holloway is good fighter, but he didn't say anything about me. How can it be like, it's just a joke.

" "I mean, in my culture, where I come from, if you say about someone, you've got to explain why, right? You ask him why and he doesn't know like answer why am I dumb or I'm like ret*rded or whatever," Tsarukyan explained. "If you say something, you've got to answer why, right?