Amar Tsarukyan and Urijah Faber came under the spotlight at the RAF 08 on April 18, where the former dived off-stage into the crowd with his opponent. Faber recently weighed in on the incident.
Their bout took place at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, where they locked horns in the middleweight category. Tsarukyan delivered a notable performance, dominating the matchup from the start, as he started with an 8-0 lead in the first period. He eventually prevailed over Faber by technical fall with a score of 13-1. The moment that turned heads during the match was Tsarukyan throwing both himself and his contender off the stage onto the concrete.
He did a single-leg takedown and dived into the crowd near the commentary stage. Both contestants came out without sustaining any major injuries. This turned into a viral moment, with clips of it making headlines. Faber, who made an appearance on the “Ariel Helwani Show,” got real about what happened during the bout.
Saying he knew that it wasn’t personal from Tsarukyan’s end, he said he did that for some clicks. Claiming that the latter had put both their livelihoods in danger for clickbait, he said:
“I was on concrete. I was, I’m getting thicker and sturdier. My back was actually hurt going into that like the two weeks before I did my first match, and I, watched me hold this guy’s head. I’m smiling, talking to him right there. You see that? I’m saying, come on, man, you gotta resort to this, buddy. He, look, I like Arman, to be honest. I don’t think that was personal. I think that was him being a clickbait. He’s like the National Enquirer as a human being. He’s trying to get these clicks and at all risks, these young guys will do anything for the clicks, and, he wanted to risk both of our livelihood for some clicks there. He knew what he was doing.”
He further opened up about how landing on the cement accidentally helped his back, which was injured two weeks ago.
“I literally landed on the cement. I think it helped my back. My back was hurt two weeks ago and I wasn’t able to do much training. I think he realigned it there and I didn’t even do a warm-up at, at the match, you know. I, I did no wrestling, other than footwork and motion leading up to that because I had a little, a little issue, and, and I think he fixed it. So thank you, Arman, again for the help,” he added.
What did Arman Tsarukyan say about the RAF 08 viral moment with Urijah Faber?
Shortly after Arman Tsarukyan earned the RAF 08 title against Urijah Faber, he reacted to the viral moment of him throwing his opponent off the mat. He shared a short note on X, exuding pride in his achievement and the stunt that he pulled during the bout. It read:
“Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop 🛑”
Along with this, he addressed the incident in the post-fight press conference, where he stated that it wasn’t intentional and it was something that happened in his mind. Calling Urijah Faber an OG, he said:
“I don’t control myself so much so if something happens, it’s not like I was thinking about throwing him off the stage. Something that happened from my mind. It comes right away. No, how can I throw him on purpose? He’s an OG.”
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