Despite rumors that Arman Tsarukyan was booted from the organization, it turns out he is still a part of RAF’s plans for the future following the wild and viral brawl with Georgio Poullas this past Saturday at RAF 6.
“Arman Tsarukyan has not been banned by RAF,” RAF co-founder Chad Bronstein told MMA Fighting.
Following Tsarukyan’s victory over Poullas at RAF 6 — which still stands, according to Bronstein — the top UFC lightweight threw a punch at Poullas, and then an all-out brawl broke out on the mat. Bronstein wasn’t surprised due to how chippy the match was throughout. Once the event wrapped up, Bronstein, along with fellow co-founders Izzy Martinez and Eric Bischoff, wasn’t ready to get into specifics due to how fresh it was on their minds.
In an interview on The Ariel Helwani Show, Poullas said that he was told by the promotion that RAF was done with Tsarukyan, unless the rematch with Poullas took place. Bronstein was asked if Poullas’ claims were accurate.
“We’re not done,” Bronstein said. “When we talked to him after the match, we were deciding… again, we went to the press. We didn’t know — it was like, you were shocked at the moment, you had to watch the film and stuff like that. Arman, he comes and performs at every event for us. We’ve never had an incident with him, and I think that was a unique incident due to the matchup and the aggressiveness in that matchup.”
Just three days following RAF 6, Hype Fighting announced that Tsarukyan and Poullas would run it back in a submission-only grappling match at Hype Brazil on March 11. Hours later, it was revealed that Poullas withdrew from the matchup, and statements from Bronstein and Martinez followed shortly thereafter, saying they wanted the rematch in RAF.
Bronstein was annoyed by the grappling match being announced, but is confident Tsarukyan will accept running it back with Poullas under the RAF banner.
“Arman’s a competitor, and I have nothing but respect for Arman,” Bronstein explained. “I think that Arman will take the matchup.
“Izzy and I did not like the play of finding out on [Tuesday] morning that there was another rematch [with Hype Fighting]. I thought that was ridiculous. Let’s be frank, right? Arman’s had some good virality from RAF, so has Georgio. Neither one of them would have ever thought about that matchup, period. So obviously, it’s a great opportunity to put that match back on RAF.
“After that, go grapple, do all that you want.”
Tsarukyan and Poullas also competed at RAF 5 in January, both picking up tech fall wins over Lance Palmer and Mugzy, respectively.
After everything went down this past weekend, Bronstein addressed whether there would be any contingencies in place, or extra language in the contracts that would punish the competitors if a similar altercation happened again, with the biggest concern being making sure nobody from the crowd rushed onto the mat.
While preparations are expected to be in place, Bronstein knows how much the viral moment helped, not only RAF but the sport of wrestling as a whole.
“I think we’ll just make sure that the area is secure,” Bronstein said. “I don’t think they’re going to do that a second time. I think it’s going to be a good, clean match, and I think they both respect each other at the end of the day as competitors.
“They’re both good [on] social media. As good of athletes they are, they’re also very good social media influencers and promoters. I think we’ll make sure to try and make sure that incident doesn’t happen and that it’s good, clean wrestling. I think the fight was good for wrestling, in general, if you want me to say it. The key for what we’re trying to accomplish as an organization is to bring eyeballs to wrestling and to make wrestling fun for the non-wrestling purists.
“And I think when we’re building these cards, Izzy as a head matchmaker, and Ben Askren and Lance Palmer, and Willie Saylor, and myself, like, it’s to create different thoughts on the card. Olympic [wrestler] Givi [Matcharashvili] vs. Steve Buchanan, or you see David Carr vs. Bubba Jenkins. You’re not going to see that, and Bubba Jenkins still being an NCAA champion. Mugzy vs. Clay Guida, Evan Wick. Like, Evan Wick showed up. Kadik’s (Mahamedkhabib Kadimagomedov) an amazing wrestler, so you’re seeing the top-tiered wrestling, and then some really unique matchups that you wouldn’t see, and that’s really bringing the eyeballs to the sport.”
RAF 7 is set for March 28 in Tampa and is expected to be headlined by Colby Covington against an opponent still to be determined. RAF 8 takes place a few weeks later on April 18 in Philadelphia, with Henry Cejudo set to headline the event against past UFC opponent and fellow former bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili.
Bronstein also revealed a variety of timelines that the rematch between Tsarukyan and Poullas could take place, with the RAF schedule filling up quickly over the next couple of months.
“True [it would happen within 90 days],” Bronstein said. “True [it would happen within 60 days]. I don’t know [if it happens at RAF 7]. I’ll say this, because we’re going to have some cool announcements coming out about both the March 18 card and the April 18 card. What’s really cool is the community of different types of opportunities and personalities that want to come into the league. There’s so much cool matchups that you can create… and we have a culture, and I feel like our culture is really special when you’re at our events.
“People come and they [see] Aljamain Sterling coming there, and Urijah [Faber] coming there, Henry [Cejudo] comes to the events. He knows. But the new people that are coming, like, I think they feel like that addiction of, it’s a different energy that’s being created, it’s a little bit different. When you go to that Fan Zone, I like to think that the people that may start fights, they go to that Fan Zone and they see the responsibility that’s around how many kids are showing up to that stuff, it creates that, ‘Hey, we have a special responsibility here because a lot of the people that are showing up are kids.”
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