Arman Tsarukyan Explains Skirmish with Fan During UFC 300 Walkout

Arman Tsarukyan punched a fan during his walkout to fight Charles Oliveira 😅 pic.twitter.com/DMoX27o8H1

— Happy Punch (@HappyPunch) April 14, 2024

Arman Tsarukyan has a stern warning for fans after one instigated him to throw a punch during his UFC 300 walkout.

Tsarukyan defeated former 155-pound champ Charles Oliveira via closely-contested split decision at UFC 300 on Saturday. The Armenian-Russian also had a brief physical altercation with a fan while walking out for the fight. Tsarukyan could be seen nonchalantly throwing a right hand at someone before resuming his walkout.

Lock this violent criminal up for assault. Roid raging thug pic.twitter.com/VpyPuS11Dl

— ape (@qpe) April 14, 2024

Tsarukyan later explained that a fan flipped him the bird and wanted to punch him, inciting the reaction that was captured on video. “Ahalkalakets” warned fans against harassing fighters, as it could lead to dire results.

“He showed me f—k you [flipped the bird] and wanted to punch me, and I wanted to punch him back, that’s it,” Tsarukyan said during his post-fight media scrum. “So guys, like no one show me f—k you. Doesn’t matter who you are, I’m going to punch you in the face. You can show me f-k from like 200 meters, I’m not going to punch you. But when you’re close to me, it’s like automatically, I’m like from Russia. Like don’t do that, please, or I’m going to go to the prison in U.S.”

This wasn’t the first time Tsarukyan had to deal with fan hostility leading up to the fight. During a UFC 300 Q&A session held in Miami last month, Tsarukyan was booed and issued death threats by fans.

Dana White also weighed in on Tsarukyan’s altercation with the fan, alluding that it was the latter’s fault. However, the UFC CEO is also expecting a lawsuit he might have to handle.

“Yeah, you might not want to hang over the things and grab people when they’re walking out," White said. "These guys are all f—-g piped up, whatever. I’m sure we’re probably going to get sued. We’ll deal with that on Monday too.”