{"id":510243,"date":"2026-03-02T21:55:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T21:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/510243\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T21:55:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T21:55:08","slug":"merab-dvalishvili-defends-arman-tsarukyan-following-viral-brawl-at-raf-06","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/510243\/","title":{"rendered":"Merab Dvalishvili defends Arman Tsarukyan following viral brawl at RAF 06"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili believes Arman Tsarukyan wasn\u2019t in the wrong during a viral brawl at RAF 06.<\/p>\n<p>Top UFC lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan\u2019s latest endeavor outside of the Octagon <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/ufc\/arman-tsarukyans-raf-match-ignites-wild-brawl-georgio-poullas-calls-ufc-star-a-little-b\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ended in chaos immediately<\/a> following his Real American Freestyle 06 wrestling match against Georgio Poullas.<\/p>\n<p>Tsarukyan and Poullas squared off in a highly anticipated showdown on the RAF 06 card, headlined by a matchup between MMA legends Henry Cejudo and Urijah Faber. It was a back-and-forth affair, but Tsarukyan and the presiding officials repeatedly scolded Poullas for slapping and using unfair tactics on the mats.<\/p>\n<p>After eight rounds, Tsarukyan took out his frustration with Poullas on his opponent, taking down Poullas after the buzzer before throwing several punches. Tsarukyan, Poullas, and their teams were involved in a wild post-match brawl that left Poullas getting extensive treatment at a local hospital in Tempe.<\/p>\n<p>Fans expressed mixed reactions to Tsarukyan\u2019s actions following the controversial wrestling match. But one former UFC champion, Merab Dvalishvili, believes Tsarukyan wasn\u2019t in the wrong.<\/p>\n<p>Merab Dvalishvili comes to Arman Tsarukyan\u2019s defense after RAF 06 brawl<\/p>\n<p>In a recent appearance on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/live\/nAsmec606KU?si=XvcvMruD0LPngbuh\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">The Ariel Helwani Show<\/a>, Dvalishvili was asked if Tsarukyan was justified in attacking Poullas following questionable in-match tactics.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think Georgio started that; he was doing too much,\u201d Dvalishvili said of the Tsarukyan incident.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey took points from him, and I think if they were supposed to fight, they should\u2019ve fought instead of the wrestling match, not after. That\u2019s just my opinion. Georgio was doing too much for sure, fighting aggressively, and we also saw how he was pushing in Arman\u2019s face.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This isn\u2019t the first time Tsarukyan has failed to control his temper before or after combat sports competitions. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/ufc\/dan-hooker-is-a-fan-of-arman-tsarukyan-despite-weigh-in-headbutt-and-ufc-qatar-loss\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tsarukyan headbutted Dan Hooker<\/a> before their fight at UFC Qatar, prompting UFC CEO Dana White and the matchmakers to postpone his desired UFC lightweight title shot.<\/p>\n<p>After submitting Hooker, Tsarukyan could potentially face another top contender before getting another lightweight title shot. In the meantime, he could potentially rematch Poullas and reignite one of RAF\u2019s first feuds.<\/p>\n<p>Do you agree with Merab Dvalishvili\u2019s stance on Arman Tsarukyan? Let us know in the comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili believes Arman Tsarukyan wasn\u2019t in the wrong during a viral brawl at&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":510244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[15504,49,48,641,201959,21903,638,200653,82,640],"class_list":{"0":"post-510243","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-arman-tsarukyan","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-fighting","12":"tag-georgio-poullas","13":"tag-merab-dvalishvili","14":"tag-mma","15":"tag-raf-6","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-ufc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/510244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}