Arman Tsarukyan punched a fan during his
walkout to fight Charles Oliveira 😅 pic.twitter.com/DMoX27o8H1— Happy Punch (@HappyPunch)
April 14, 2024
The fan who was the target of an Arman
Tsarukyan punch during the fighter’s walkout at UFC
300 doesn’t plan on taking legal action against the
promotion.
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Video surfaced of Tsarukyan throwing a punch into the crowd as he
walked to the Octagon for his lightweight bout against Charles
Oliveira at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
The fan, who has been identified as Obed Ardon, has issued a
statement regarding his actions at the event.
“I’d like to apologize to Arman for provoking him by flipping him
off. I was buzzing all day and the moment got to me,” Ardon told
Bloody Elbow.
“It was my first time attending a live UFC event and it was
absolutely incredible. I’m glad the incident wasn’t as bad as it
could have been. I do want to make clear that I didn’t pull him
towards me, yell out offensive words or anything of that nature. I
flipped him off, nothing else. Congrats to Arman on a great
performance and best of luck to him against whoever he fights for
the title.”
Tsarukyan briefly addressed the incident during a post-fight media
scrum on Saturday.
“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. “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.”
UFC CEO Dana White stated that he expected legal ramifications from
the incident.
“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.”
However, Ardon claims that he plans to take no legal action against
the UFC. Instead, the fan hopes to receive ticket’s to the
promotion’s International Fight Week event on June 29.
“To answer Dana White’s comments about suing: I will not sue, that
never crossed my mind. My first thought was I hope I don’t get
kicked out. Thank you Uncle Dana for blessing us with an amazing
300 card… and can you bless me and my brothers up with tickets to
UFC 303?”