Arman Tsarukyan was knocked down by a fan before the UFC star retaliated by punching him in the face.
As the Armenian MMA star walked out for his main card fight with Charles Oliveira at UFC 300 on Saturday night, TNT Sports cameras caught him throwing a hand punch at someone in the crowd.
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At first, it was unclear why Tsarukyan lost his cool until footage emerged of the fan in question raising his middle finger at the lightweight contender.
After being stopped by security, Tsarukyan was then seen lunging at another fan as Jon Anik said on commentary: “A few scuffles there with fans.
“Looks like Arman Tsarukyan is getting into a conversation with someone arriving tonight.”
Daniel Cormier added: “Yeah, it’s crazy to see him do that.
“You want to be so locked in. It must be something that matters to Arman, what happened to him on the way to the Octagon.”
UFC chief Dana White said in his post-fight press conference: “Yeah, you might not want to hold on to that thing and grab people as they’re coming out.
“These guys are all excited and it doesn’t matter.
“We’re probably going to get sued, we’ll deal with that on Monday as well.”
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Tsarukyan would record the biggest victory of his career by defeating Oliveira over the distance that evening.
The 27-year-old immediately called for a shot at lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, who beat him by unanimous decision in his organizational debut in April 2019.
Speaking after his victory against Oliveira, he said: “Hey, it was five years ago, my short-term fight with Islam Makhachev.
“I gave him the hardest fight and the next fight I’m going to win, just give me that opportunity.”
However, he will have to wait a little longer for the opportunity to avenge this defeat as White confirmed during the post-fight press conference that Makhachev will defend his 155-pound belt against Dustin Poirier at UFC 302 in June .
White then gave his reaction to Tsarukyan’s brawl before the fight. “Yeah, you might not want to hang over the thing and catch people as they’re coming out,” he said.
“These guys are all excited and it doesn’t matter. We’re probably going to get sued, we’ll deal with that on Monday as well.
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