Georgio Poullas allegedly refused to grapple against Arman
Tsarukyan at Hype FC despite being offered a massive
contract.
Tsarukyan and Poullas met in a freestyle wrestling match at RAF 6
last month. Poullas was accused of multiple fouls, penalized, and
lost the match by points. Tsarukyan maintained his composure until
the end of the bout and then punched Poullas as the whole arena
erupted in a massive brawl.
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Days later, Tsarukyan and Poullas were booked in a rematch, this
time in submission-only grappling, at Hype FC on March 11 in Rio De
Janeiro, Brazil. However, the booking fell through within hours as
Poullas pulled out, citing his preference to compete in freestyle
wrestling at RAF. Tsarukyan and Poullas will now meet in a rematch
at RAF 7 on March 28 in Tampa.
Hype FC CEO Armand Martirosian claims he was turned down by Poullas
despite offering a lucrative contract. According to Martirosian, he
offered Poullas $2.6 million for seven bouts. Martirosian believes
Poullas turned down the contract because he found it too good to be
true, which the social-media wrestler even mentioned in their
conversation.
Martirosian immediately started looking for replacements, calling
up the entire UFC roster. However, Martirosian claims the
UFC has changed its policy since Sharabutdin
Magomedov and Tsarukyan grappled to a draw at Hype FC in
Armenia this past December. According to Martirosian, the UFC now
doesn’t allow most of its active fighters to compete against each
other at Hype FC.
Too Good to Be True?
“My final offer to him was $2.6 million for seven matches,”
Martirosian told Red Corner MMA. “I think this must be the biggest
contract in wrestling history. Maybe he didn’t believe we could
actually afford that amount of pay. That’s what he actually said,
‘I don’t believe you’ll pay me this money, it’s too big.’ I would
not say it was a huge disappointment. We started looking for a
substitute right away. I must have called around the entire UFC
roster. But the thing is, following our event in Armenia, the UFC
slightly changed their policy, and now they don’t let most of their
active fighters compete against each other at Hype FC.”
Tsarukyan will now face former UFC flyweight Muhammad
Mokaev in the main event at Hype FC on March 11. Meanwhile,
“Shara Bullet” was originally scheduled to co-headline the event
against Jorge
Masvidal. However, “Shara Bullet” will now face Edson
Barboza after Masvidal pulled out due to undisclosed
reasons.
The head of Hype FC says Georgio Poullas
decided to accept an offer from Real American Freestyle despite
receiving a sizable offer from Hype FC for his rematch with
Arman
Tsarukyan under grappling rules.„My final offer to him was $2.6 million for seven matches. I think
this… pic.twitter.com/4DhThbfjJF— Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA)