Arman Tsarukyan really might be his own worst enemy.
Despite sitting near the top of the UFC’s lightweight rankings, the 29-year-old contender is still on the outside looking in when it comes to a title shot after a fight week injury cost him the chance to face then champion Islam Makhachev back in January 2025. When Tsarukyan finally returned to action, he defeated Dan Hooker in dominant fashion but only after a heated faceoff at the weigh-ins ended with the Armenian fighter headbutting his opponent resulting in a broken nose.
White later said that incident likely cost him another opportunity to compete for UFC gold and now history is repeating itself after Tsarukyan lost control and ended up punching Georgio Poullas following their wrestling match at RAF 6, which ignited a huge brawl in the arena.
“The first thing I thought was this is not a good look for Arman,” UFC legend Matt Brown said reacting to the incident on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “The entire reason that Dana was using, right or wrong, is Arman causes problems. He pulled out of a fight at last minute, head butting Dan Hooker, all these different reasons.
“Why would you give him another reason? It doesn’t make any sense. Arman is clearly a hothead who needs to calm down and take a step back and focus on what he needs to focus on.”
While the wrestling match definitely got heated and Poullas isn’t exempt from his behavior, Tsarukyan actually tackling him afterwards and throwing a punch transformed a heated altercation into a full on brawl.
Tempers flaring isn’t uncommon in wrestling but Brown says Tsarukyan just took things too far with his behavior on Saturday night.
“One of the things that he probably doesn’t realize from not having wrestling experience is those slaps and stuff are common place,” Brown said. “When you’re in an intense [match], particularly in freestyle but even in college, when you’re in these intense matches, guys are hitting that threshold of a slap versus just slapping or snapping or pulling the head. They’re trying to get as close as they can. They’re scrapping out there.
“But the way that Arman handled it, and the way he waited until the bell rang and waited until Georgio was on his back and kind of defenseless, that was a bad look. I don’t like it one bit from Arman.”
As much as Brown believes that Tsarukyan should have already had the opportunity to compete for a UFC title, he’s not making it any easier on himself by making these kinds of mistakes outside the cage.
With reigning UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria expected to clash with interim champion Justin Gaethje in his next fight, Tsarukyan was already going to have to wait for any potential title shot. Now after this latest incident, Brown has every reason to believe the UFC might hold that against him and force Tsarukyan to wait even longer.
“You’ve got to get your priorities straight,” Brown said. “His entire focus in his life should be to get the UFC title. Get the title fight. He can’t even get the title fight because of the issues he created. Your entire focus should be to get the UFC title fight. The wrestling match, it didn’t even matter. What’s the point here? What are you doing? You’re literally just setting yourself up for failure now. It just doesn’t make any sense.
“It’s poor behavior, poor decision making. He needs some coaches or some therapy or something on his team. He needs somebody to settle him down, because if Dana uses this against him, he’s got to regret that. He’s got to look at himself in the mirror and be like ‘what the f*ck did I do?’”
White claiming that Tsarukyan’s behavior ahead of the Hooker fight likely cost him a title shot may not have mattered much since the promotion ultimately promoted Justin Gaethje vs. Paddy Pimblett for the first UFC card on Paramount to kick off 2026.
But Tsarukyan’s continued problems outside the cage could once again put the UFC in a position where the organization could choose to pass him over for a title shot, especially if the winner of the upcoming UFC 326 main event between Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira looks convincing in victory.
“Whatever reason it is, it does seem like with the Dan Hooker thing, they’re like you gave us a reason,” Brown said. “We’re going to take it. He’s just giving them another reason. He can’t be doing that. That’s not your prerogative in life. You want the f*cking title. You go out there, you be clean, you do the things you need to do, you live properly, you talk properly and you wait for your turn and you go and win the f*cking title. Then it’s different. Then you’re the guy defending the title.
“I still wouldn’t want to see him do those kinds of things but you’ve got the title. Now the burden is on everybody else to fight you. Now you’ve got the target. Now you can act the fool and be a little hotheaded.”
Unfortunately, Tsarukyan doesn’t have the title and this latest altercation could put a championship fight that much further out of reach.
“I don’t know what my voice means, but I’ve stuck up for him so much on this podcast,” Brown said. “Every week I’m like ‘it’s f*cking bullshit he doesn’t have a title shot’ and now you’re like yeah he should probably get a title shot but if you don’t, I get it.
“You’re just giving them a reason. It doesn’t make sense. You’re doing a f*cking wrestling match. Why do you care so much?”
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