Arman Tsarukyan may have just found another way to piss off Dana White.
The UFC Lightweight contender completely lost his cool during Thursday’s RAF 14 press conference, charging across the stage and swinging at professional troublemaker Dillon Danis after the Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist insulted Tsarukyan’s close friend and training partner, Khamzat Chimaev.
During the press conference, Danis was asked to explain the shirt he was wearing.
“It says Khamzat is my bitch, and it has a picture of him
without a beard,” Danis said.
Tsarukyan had heard enough.
The 29-year-old immediately stood up, walked across the stage and threw a punch at Danis. Tsarukyan missed his intended target and appeared to clobber a security guard instead, which opened the floodgates for everyone’s respective teams to storm the stage.
From there, all hell broke loose.
Fighters, coaches and security personnel exchanged shoves and punches as the press conference descended into complete chaos. The event was effectively ruined while officials desperately attempted to separate the two camps.
Tsarukyan and Danis are scheduled to wrestle for the inaugural RAF Middleweight Crossover championship in the RAF 14 main event tomorrow night (Fri., Oct. 23, 2026) inside Fontainebleau Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada. Chimaev battles former UFC Welterweight champion Robbie Lawler in the co-main event.
It’s not difficult to understand why Danis’ shirt bothered Tsarukyan. He and Chimaev have become close friends through training, with “Borz” previously revealing that the two refer to each other as brothers.
Danis also has a lengthy history with Chimaev.
The pair wrestled at RAF 10 this past June, with Chimaev steamrolling Danis in just 44 seconds. Danis then kicked at Chimaev after the match, igniting—you guessed it—a massive brawl between both teams.
Of course, Danis is rarely far from trouble. He was involved in the infamous UFC 229 melee between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov’s teams, then earned a lifetime ban from UFC events after brawling with Islam Makhachev’s teammates at UFC 322.
Still, Tsarukyan took the bait like a starving fish.
The Armenian has developed quite the reputation for being hot-headed. He punched a fan during his UFC 300 walkout, earning a nine-month suspension and $25,000 fine from the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Tsarukyan later headbutted Dan Hooker during a faceoff—breaking the New Zealander’s nose—before starting another team-wide brawl by attacking Georgio Poullas after their RAF 6 wrestling match.
Those incidents, combined with Tsarukyan withdrawing from his UFC 311 title fight against Islam Makhachev one day before the event, left White admittedly “not thrilled” with his top Lightweight contender. White later confirmed Tsarukyan’s behavior played a role in delaying another championship opportunity.
Tsarukyan revealed earlier Thursday that UFC has promised him a Lightweight title fight early next year.
Excellent timing, Arman.
