Arman Tsarukyan insists he is not responsible for the chaotic brawl that followed his wrestling match against Georgio Poullas at RAF 6.
After the final whistle, Tsarukyan tackled Poullas and threw a punch, sparking a brawl that drew in coaches, security and event officials.
Speaking days later, Tsarukyan claimed he was reacting to repeated fouls during the match:
I mean his game plan was just fight during the fight, make hype and he wanted to do that because the actual [wrestlers], like natural wrestlers never do that.
Because it’s disrespectful.The referee can cut you out but this referee, he was just taking points from him.
He punched two times… And the referee still kept waiting for him and he’s just knocking me out.
While aggressive hand-fighting is common in wrestling, Tsarukyan argued that Poullas crossed the line.
According to him, the fouls went beyond normal physical exchanges:
Maybe 20 times, he’s trying to poke eyes, break my fingers.
I always show to the referee and the referee shouldn’t do that.I thought he was going to wrestle but when he started punching, I said OK this guy wants to fight…
I was waiting on wrestling [to be] done and that moment, I wanted to punch him right away.I won the wrestling and I heard the whistle and I said OK, now it’s time.
Still, he does not expect repercussions from the promotion over this latest altercation:
This is not my fault. Everybody is on my side now.
I was waiting like six minutes. He was like punching me for six minutes.What do you want me to wait for? Bro, if someone punches you…
Everybody is different, (but) what are you going to do if somebody punches you 20 times? You’re not going to let him do that.
As for a potential rematch with Poullas, Tsarukyan made it clear he has no interest in settling things on the wrestling mat again:
No, if they want to do a rematch, we’ve just got to fight on the street. Even better than a rematch.
Because I don’t want to fight in freestyle wrestling.He made his name. He has hype now and now he’s thinking he’s a superstar. He did his job. He’s not a good wrestler…
If he wants to fight, we can fight anywhere but not on the wrestling mats.