Arman Tsarukyan turned his wrestling match into a fight after he punched Georgio Poullas as a wild brawl broke out at RAF 6 on Saturday.
Tensions were high throughout as Tsarukyan and Poullas both complained about slaps and rough behavior during the match. Tsarukyan actually led late and secured an impressive win but then immediately afterwards he tackled Poullas to the ground and started throwing a barrage of punches.
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The fight turned into a full on brawl as coaches and athletes near the stage all rushed onto the mats trying to break up the athletes. A moment later, punches were being thrown as fights broke out in the arena as security and other wrestlers including UFC welterweight Colby Covington tried to intervene.
The chaos continued as the melee went from the mats to the stage and even down on the floor but eventually the situation was brought under control as RAF officials tried to control the situation. It was a wild scene and one that might cost Tsarukyan the chance to return to RAF after he initiated the brawl by punching Poullas in the first place.
Prior to the brawl, things were already getting ugly between the wrestlers.
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Some early posturing led to Poullas slapping away at Tsarukyan’s head trying to find an opening and the UFC lightweight fired back with an actual slap across the face. Poullas complained and the action was paused but the match eventually resumed.
A moment later, Poullas pushed Tsarukyan and that led to another stoppage — this time it was Tsarukyan complaining to the referee. The match restarted and the bad blood was nearly boiling over between the competitors.
With a 2-1 lead heading into the second period, Tsarukyan was getting frustrated as Poullas kept pawing away at him but not actually initiating any action. The referee stepped in again and put another point on the board for Tsarukyan before a push out put him up 4-1.
When the period ended, Tsarukyan actually took a backwards swipe at Poullas, although he didn’t connect but it appeared that the wrestling match might turn into a fight at any moment.
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With two minutes remaining, Poullas finally scored a takedown in a scramble and he tried to go for the gut-wrench and the turn but Tsarkyan resisted before they ended up out of bounds. Tsarukyan countered with a slick double-leg takedown but Poullas went crashing to the ground out of bounds so it only counted as a push out for one point.
Still it was enough for Tsarukyan to maintain his lead until time ran out and that’s when he decided he had enough and wanted to punch Poullas to settle things once and for all. Tsarukyan, widely considered the top contender for the UFC lightweight title, has shown questionable judgment in the past including a head butt delivered to Dan Hooker before their fight in Qatar so there’s no telling if this latest outburst might cost him with his bosses at the UFC.
