Aljamain Sterling: No 'cake walk' for Arman Tsarukyan at featherweight

If Arman Tsarukyan thinks can drop to 145 pounds and just walk right into a UFC featherweight title fight, one former champion says he might want to think again.

Tsarukyan, who's No. 2 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie lightweight rankings, first threw out the idea last month when he declared himself next to challenge champion Alexander Volkanovski and asked his social media followers if it was time to "save the featherweight division." Then on Monday, Tsarukyan said he expects to fight "around June," adding that "it's even possible" his return would be a featherweight title fight.

Not so fast, says Aljamain Sterling.

"I wouldn't be annoyed at all (if Tsarukyan dropped to featherweight). I don't think he necessarily will cut the line. He'll have to fight the next top guy," Sterling told MMA Junkie. "If he wants to come down to the division, come down, because those featherweights, we want all the smoke. You've got me, you've Jean Silva, you've got Youseff (Zalal), you've got Yair (Rodriguez), you've got a lot of talented guys. You've got the Kevin Vallejos kid, who's surging hot right now. You've got that young kid prospect, Lerryan Douglas. There's a lot of good guys in this division, so it ain't gonna be a cake walk, I can tell you that."

Aside from the amount of talent in the UFC featherweight division, Sterling warns Tsarukyan that things physically wouldn't be the same for him at 145 pounds.

"If he wants to come down, just remember: We're faster," Sterling said. "We are faster. You're cutting down, and you're gonna be smaller. There's gonna be different pros and cons for him coming down. Maybe he's gonna feel stronger, but he's definitely not gonna have the pop for three or five rounds like he does at '55 where he's a little bit more of his natural body weight."

While he's remained in Dana White's dog house ever since pulling out of his January 2025 lightweight title fight with then-champ Islam Makhachev, Tsarukyan has fought only once, picking up a second-round submission win over Dan Hooker last November. In 2026, , winning all four of his wrestling matches for the fledgling promotion.