A March 8 question and answer session in Miami held to promote
UFC
300 was the platform for offensive fan behavior.
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In addition to Arman
Tsarukyan (21-3) being insulted and receiving death threats
from fans, “Ahalkalkets” was also asked an inappropriate question
about Kayla
Harrison (16-1) who was sharing the stage with him. While the
exchange between Tsarukyan and the fan was in Russian, translations
flooded the internet shortly after.
The fan reportedly asked Tsarukyan “how many sticks” he would throw
at Harrison, which seemingly translates to whether he would have
sex with her. Tsarukyan answered with, “a couple,” apparently in
the affirmative.
Harrison, who was tagged in endless clips of the exchange on social
media, finally addressed the issue during an appearance on
“The MMA Hour.”
“The guy asked him [Tsarukyan] basically how many times he would…
He asked him a really inappropriate question about me. And Arman
answered it. And I looked like an idiot. I’m up on the stage like
laughing,” The former
Professional Fighters League champ said.
“And Megan Olivi is like, ‘Would you care to translate it’? And
Arman’s like, ‘No, stupid question; move on.’ And the next day I’m
tagged in all of these Russian outlets with the translation of what
he asked. And you know, it’s disheartening, I think.”
While Harrison found the question disrespectful in general, she
believes no female fighter would be asked the same question about a
male fighter, which further irks her.
“It’s disrespectful. Like I’m a two-time Olympic champion, a world
champion, I’m a mother; I’m an advocate for survivors of sexual
abuse. I wrote a book. I have a foundation. So in that sense it was
disrespectful that someone were to even ask that question. But more
than that I think like, you would never hear a female get asked,
‘How many times would you have sex with Alex
Pereira?’ That’s just like — we don’t sexualize men like
that. So, it was disheartening. At first, I was super embarrassed
and shocked by it. But then I was just like, ‘You know what, I’m
just going to keep being me. I’m going to say something about it
when the time is right because I feel like that’s wrong.’ And I
want to help change the landscape of the sport not just for me but
for future female fighters. It was on International Women’s Day to
boot. Like what are we talking [about].”
Harrison and Tsarukyan are teammates at
American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida. The Olympian also
had a conversation with Tsarukyan, which was admittedly awkward but
solved things between them.
“Yeah, Arman and I spoke about it. He’s a teammate, that was
obviously awkward. We spoke about it, we’re good. There’s no issues
with Arman.”
Harrison is set to make her promotional debut against former champ
Holly
Holm (15-6) at UFC 300 on April 13. Meanwhile, Tsarukyan will
take on former lightweight champ Charles
Oliveira (34-9).