Arman Tsarukyan has become the new king of combat sports side quests. In his latest venture back on the RAF mats, Tsarukyan’s wrestling match against Georgio Poullas made headlines this past weekend for becoming more akin to MMA than anyone anticipated.
After debuting with RAF in January with a shutout win over Lance Palmer, the No. 2-ranked UFC lightweight contender ramped up the heat for his sophomore appearance at RAF 6, as he and Poullas broke out into a full-blown team vs. team brawl upon the conclusion of their wrestling match Saturday at the Mullett Arena in Tempe, Arizona. Tsarukyan, 29, explained the backstory behind the now-viral scene on Monday’s edition of “The Ariel Helwani Show.”
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“His game plan was just [to] fight during the [match], make hype, and he wanted to do that because the actual [wrestlers], like natural wrestlers, never do that,” Tsarukyan told Uncrowned. “Because it’s disrespectful, and the referee can count you out, but this referee was just taking points from him. But he punched [me] two times — one time he did, they said, ‘If you do it one more time, we’ll just cut you from wrestling [match].’ And the referee still kept waiting for him and he’s just [trying to] knock me out.
“[Poullas] knew he’s gotta stop this wrestling [match], because he’s losing, first of all. Second of all, he cannot beat me. Third [of all], if he loses, he’s gotta pay me because we had a deal — who wins gets the money. He came [before the match] and said, oh, if I win, I get $25,000; if he wins, he gets $50,000. I say, ‘You’re stupid or what, man? What are you talking about?’ You come to casino and say, ‘Listen, I’ll bet $100,000. If I win, I get my $200,000. If I lose, I give you $50,000.’ Bro, come on. And I said, ‘We have a different pocket. Let’s stay under $10,000,’ and we just shake hands, but I haven’t seen my money yet.”
Tsarukyan’s match with Poullas was chippy throughout its entirety, but things really escalated following its conclusion, as Tsarukyan hammered Poullas with illegal punches shortly after the buzzer rang.
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“Maybe 20 times, he’s trying to like poke eyes, break my fingers,” Tsarukyan said. “And I always shared it to the referee and the referee shouldn’t [handle it like] that.
“I thought he was going to [be trying to] wrestle, but when he started punching, I said, ‘OK, this guy wants to fight and cancel the fight. Do, like, dirty wrestling.’ … I was waiting for this wrestling [to be] done, and that moment I wanted to punch him right away. Like, I won the wrestling and I heard the whistle, and I said, ‘OK, now it’s time. Because I got the victory.’ But if I did it before, I couldn’t win.”
Drama and rivalries are perfect for a promotion like RAF, an amateur wrestling league founded by pro-wrestling royalty, Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff. MMA personalities aplenty have been key figures throughout the company’s six events thus far. And with Tsarukyan and Poullas finishing on unresolved terms — despite Tsarukyan’s official win — it opens up the door for an easily-sellable rematch.
Tsarukyan doesn’t have much interest in running things back, though.
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Instead, he’d rather invite Poullas into his gym with fewer eyeballs for a head-to-head scrap.
“He’s gotta say, ‘Thank you so much, Arman. You made my name bigger,'” Tsarukyan said.
“I would like to grapple with him, and then I would like to do MMA sparring with him. I would like to pay him money and say, ‘Let’s do sparring.’
“Whatever he wants. I don’t want to do it for hype. I just want to do it for me, kick his a** so bad. He’s going to pay for that. I’m just doing [it] for myself, for fun. This is a bulls*** guy — I cannot fight [him in UFC], just in the gym. Kick his a** in the gym.”
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A history of questionable antics has rapidly built up for Tsarukyan since his 2024 win over Charles Oliveira at UFC 300. The would-be lightweight title challenger got into a scuffle with a fan at that same event and was subsequently suspended nine months and fined $25,000. The timing aligned for Tsarukyan to return in time for an early 2025 matchup against then-champ Islam Makhachev, however a last-minute back injury forced his withdrawal. Tsarukyan has yet to challenge for the UFC’s 155-pound title since.
Tsarukyan ultimately made a triumphant return with a submission of Dan Hooker in Round 2 of their UFC Qatar clash this past November. But even then, the fight carried controversy when Tsarukyan head-butted Hooker at the ceremonial weigh-ins, which Hooker alleges broke his nose. Tsarukyan denied Hooker’s claim, countering that the injury occurred from the damage he inflicted in their fight.
Although he’s remained unbeaten in his past five fights, Tsarukyan was passed over for January’s interim title tilt between Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett at UFC 324. Gaethje walked away victorious, setting up a future clash against UFC champion Ilia Topuria. Meanwhile, this Saturday at UFC 326, the BMF title is back on the line in the lightweight division when Max Holloway defends against Oliveira.
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Tsarukyan said he’ll be in attendance for this weekend’s tilt. He feels like he’s on good terms with the UFC brass, including UFC CBO Hunter Campbell, who he recently discussed future options with over the phone. Tsarukyan is open to either of the two titles in play — the UFC lightweight belt and ceremonial BMF championship — and not concerned that his latest scuffle could be problematic.
“This is not my fault. Everybody’s on my side now,” Tsarukyan said. “They’ve gotta be happy that UFC fighter don’t let somebody beat them up. UFC fighter, No. 1, winning in freestyle wrestling, beat the freestyle wrestler, and to show what’s the level of UFC.
“I already talked to Hunter a couple weeks ago. We got a couple options. … [An option was to] fight for the 155 title in September or October, after Justin.
“I’m just doing wrestling [in the meantime]. I don’t mind. Maybe grappling, wrestling, RAF, maybe some new promotions. We’ll see.
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“[The UFC] said keep doing what you’re doing,” he added. “So that’s good, I guess.”
