Paddy Pimblett gives credit to lightweight rival Arman Tsarukyan for the “naughty elbow” that knocked out Mauricio Ruffy in the UFC 331 co-main event last weekend in Los Angeles, a move “The Batman” has been drilling prior to his Sept. 19 showdown with the Brazilian. Outside of that … Pimblett was largely unimpressed. “I’ve got to give him his due,” Pimblett said on YouTube. “As much as I don’t like him, that was a naughty elbow. I thought he looked pretty sh*t up until the point of the elbow. His eye is messed up already. I wish he never landed that just to see how the second and third would have went. That’s where he was just thinking of wrestling, thinking of wrestling, but when they separated with like 15 seconds to go, Ruffy should have tried to put it on him. Ruffy was staying against the fence. That was a statement. I’d still punch his head in, though.” It was also a bank statement. The 29 year-old Tsarukyan is lauded as one of the division’s best wrestlers but was only 1-for-10 in takedown attempts against Ruffy — who was taken down three times by Benoit Saint Denis en route to a submission loss at UFC Paris back in late 2025. This marks the second time in two months that Tsarukyan’s wrestling has been neutralized. “I think that showed holes in his game,” Pimblett continued. “His wrestling is not as good as he thinks it is. His eye is mashed up after one right hand. I would have liked to see how that fight would have went on because he couldn’t get Ruffy down, and over the last couple of years, Ruffy hasn’t shown he’s got great takedown defense. Everyone goes on like Arman’s got the best wrestling in the UFC and he showed there that he hasn’t whatsoever. I wasn’t expecting him to knock him out at all, even if it was in the clinch with a short elbow.” Pimblett (24-4) and Tsarukyan (24-3) are separated by three spots in the official lightweight rankings.