Arman Tsarukyan is facing a tough test against former UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira – or maybe that should be phrased the other way around considering the UFC 300 betting odds.
Oliveira (34-9 MMA, 22-9 UFC) and Tsarukyan (21-3 MMA, 8-2 UFC) are set to meet at the UFC’s milestone event April 13 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. According to UFC CEO Dana White, the fight is a No. 1 contender’s matchup, with the winner earning a shot at injured 155-pound champ Islam Makhachev sometime this summer.
Oliveira, No. 2 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie lightweight rankings, is expected to have his hands full against No. 5 Tsarukyan, according to oddsmakers, with Draftkings listing “Do Bronx” as a slight +140 underdog and Tsarukyan a -166 favorite. This means a $100 bet on Oliveira could net $140 if he wins, while a $166 bet would be needed to earn $100 off a Tsarukyan win.
Oliveira, 34, got back in the win colulmn in a big way this past June when he took out Beneil Dariush with a first-round knockout at UFC 289. Oliveira won the vacant lightweight title against Michael Chandler in 2021, then defended it against Dustin Poirier later that year. But he missed weight for a title defense against Justin Gaethje and was stripped of the belt. Against Islam Makhachev in October 2022, he tapped to an arm-triangle choke in the second round trying to recapture the title. It was Oliveira’s first loss in nearly five years.
The 27-year-old Tsarukyan has won three consecutive fights, most recently finishing Dariush in 64 seconds for a vicious TKO Performance of the Night bonus to build on a stoppage of Joaquim Silva and a decision over Damir Ismagulov.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 300.
