UFC 300 Fighter Explains Why He Threw Punch at a Fan While Walking Out to Octagon

Stephen Douglas | Apr 15, 2024

Apr 13, 2024; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Arman Tsarukyan (blue gloves) reacts after defeating Charles / Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Arman Tsarukyan beat Charles Oliviera via split decision at UFC 300 on Saturday night. With the win, his fourth in a row and ninth in his last 10 fights, Tsarukyan set himself up for a possible title shot, but he's making headlines for a different reason in the wake of his latest bout.

During the walk to the cage on Saturday night Tsarukyan threw a punch at a fan. During the broadcast you could see him getting pulled away by security, while multiple fans caught the incident on video from the stands. (You can watch in the video below.)

On Monday Tsarukyan appeared on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani and explained his side of the story. The long and short of it being that the fan gave him the middle finger a little closer than he is used to getting one. In Tsarukyan's own words, he wanted to grab the fan's hand and break his finger, but since he was unable to, he threw a "fake" punch to scare him.

Arman Tsarukyan explains what happened during his walk out.#TheMMAHour pic.twitter.com/9Rh7SEmjaD

— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) April 15, 2024

Dana White was asked about the incident on Saturday night.

Dana White on Arman Tsarukyan punching a fan in the crowd: Yeah, you might not one to hang over the things and grab people when they're walking out. #UFC300 pic.twitter.com/hewe9dTJxr

— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) April 14, 2024

"Yeah, you might not want to hang over the things and grab people when they're walking out," White said. "These guys are all [expletive] hyped up and whatever and sure, we're probably going to get sued. We'll deal with that on Monday too."

As of this moment the lawsuit seems unlikely. The fan issued an apology in a statement to Bloody Elbow saying, "I was buzzing all day and the moment got to me." He also clarified his role in provoking Tsarukyan saying, "I’m glad the incident wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I do want to make clear that I didn’t pull him towards me, yell out offensive words or anything of that nature. I flipped him off, nothing else."

For now it seems all parties involved are sticking to the philosophy of what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.