For weeks, fans have wondered why No. 1–ranked Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Lightweight Arman Tsarukyan was passed over for the interim title fight at UFC 324, which goes down in two weeks in Las Vegas.
Was he still paying for his last-minute withdrawal from UFC 311?
Did his altercation with a fan come back to haunt him?
What about his recent headbutt of Dan Hooker?
As it turns out, it was a little bit of everything.
In a recent interview with streamer Adin Ross, the 29-year-old revealed that
UFC officials intentionally left him off the promotion’s first-ever Paramount card because of the baggage surrounding him.
“I was supposed to fight for the title, and then they said, ‘You’re too dangerous to put you on the first card on Paramount because of the headbutt, pull-out, beating up fans,’” Tsarukyan said. “They told me I had to wait. What can I do? I’ll just wait. I know the belt will be mine. I work every day for it. It is what it is.”
Just days earlier, UFC CEO Dana White confirmed that Tsarukyan’s headbutt of Hooker played a major role in the promotion choosing Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett instead.
There’s no denying Tsarukyan has had a rough year — and largely brought it on himself. His late withdrawal from UFC 311 threw that card into chaos, landing him in MMA purgatory. Then came the Hooker headbutt, which could have derailed the UFC Qatar main event and appears to have been the final straw.
UFC officials also haven’t forgotten Tsarukyan punching a fan during his walkout at UFC 300, nor the altercation with King Green at a UFC host hotel in Dallas back in 2023.
Simply put, Tsarukyan has been a walking headache for the promotion over the last couple of years.
There’s currently no timetable for his Octagon return, and it appears, according to the UFC head honcho, that he’ll need to fight — and beat — another top contender to earn his way back into the UFC’s good graces.
In the meantime, Tsarukyan has stayed busy on the mats. He recently competed at Real American Freestyle (RAF), where he dominated former four-time NCAA Division I All-American Lance Palmer, earning a 10-0 technical fall (watch highlights).
