Arman Tsarukyan defeats Mugzy and calls out Colby Covington at RAF 9

Colby Covington is finally getting his wish on July 18 when he faces Arman Tsarukyan in the main event at RAF 11 in Milwaukee but why exactly is this the match he wanted so badly he was willing to retire from the UFC to get it? Because the UFC has reportedly shut down active fighters facing each other in wrestling matches, Covington took the necessary step to tell the promotion he was calling it a career so he could be more active with RAF. On Saturday, Covington scored an impressive 5-4 win over former UFC champion Chris Weidman, who is a two-time All-American wrestler in his own right, to officially set up the showdown against Tsarukyan in July. But Covington says his desire to beat Tsarukyan goes further than just setting up a huge match for RAF because he wants to teach the top-ranked UFC lightweight a lesson in humility after some boorish behavior since arriving in wrestling. “He’s just a fiery young man,” Covington said about Tsarukyan at the RAF 9 post-match press conference. “I just don’t like his antics. Throwing Urijah Faber, a legend of the sport, off the stage. Brawling with guys on the wrestling mat. That’s not professional. That’s not how we act in the wrestling world. That’s not the culture of wrestling. “I want to set him straight. I want to teach him a lesson. You don’t come to American soil and disrespect us Americans. Now he’s going to have to face one of the greatest Americans that there is in the wrestling world. I plan on dunking him and giving him a wedgie like the little nerd that he is.” While Tsarukyan’s stardom has certainly exploded since he became a mainstay on the RAF roster, he’s definitely engaged in some questionable behavior along the way. The biggest example was Tsarukyan punching Georgio Poullas after their first match ended, which caused a massive brawl to break out on stage before security could intervene. As Covington mentioned, Tsarukyan did execute a takedown attempt that led to him launching Urijah Faber off the stage in a dangerous move that thankfully didn’t result in any serious injuries. But Tsarukyan’s wins thus far in RAF have come against largely outmatched opposition with two matches against Poullas, wins over Faber and Lance Palmer— who were both giving up a huge amount of size in those matches — and now dispatching social influencer Mugzy via tech fall on Saturday. Covington knows he’s going to be the stiffest test to date for Tsarukyan and he plans on ending his winning streak when they meet in July. “I didn’t get to see Arman’s performance [at RAF 9],” Covington said. “I was just focusing on my match. I knew I had a dog fight in store. That’s a two-time All-American, former world champion in the UFC, one of the greatest guys. He had 20, 30 pounds on me tonight as you could see out there. I knew I was in for a dog fight. I didn’t care about worrying about anything other than Chris Weidman tonight. “Thankful I could set up this big match with Arman. He’s been talking a lot of smack. Now there’s no more excuses. He’s got to see me on that mat July 18 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.”

Colby Covington needed every last second to get past Chris Weidman at RAF 9 but he still delivered on a win after a back-and-forth match. Giving up size to the former UFC middleweight champion, Covington had to show off his speed and technical skills to score takedowns and eventually earn a late point for passivity to end up with a 5-4 lead as time expired. As soon as the match was over, Covington wasted no time calling out Arman Tsarukyan, who scored a win of his own in the opening match of the night. View this post on Instagram “Arman, you’re a spoiled little brat,” Covington shouted. “Gas up your daddy’s jet and bring that little jezebel Nina Drama and I’ll see you in Milwaukee on July 18!.” Tsarukyan, who was sitting nearby watching the match, took to the stage with his response, while agreeing to the match on July 18 at RAF 11. “Colby, today you looked so bad,” Tsarukyan said. “When we’re going to wrestle, be ready because I don’t want to have easy money.” View this post on Instagram Before setting up his next match, Covington first had to deal with Weidman, who was a two-time All-American during his collegiate wrestling career. Weidman scored with a quick throw to get Covington down early but he couldn’t quite get a turn to rack up more points. A lot of hand fighting ensued on the standup with the referee eventually issuing a shot clock warning on Covington for lack of activity. That led to a single-leg attempt from Covington and a scramble led to points for the former interim UFC welterweight champion. Covington snatched another single-leg takedown as he put Weidman on the mat again for another two points. It appeared Weidman was slowing down and his offensive output was almost non-existent as the second period was ticking away. Weidman attempted a front-headlock snap down but came up short and that led to the referee putting him on the shot clock. Because Weidman didn’t score, Covington earned another point to go up 5-4. With 30 seconds remaining, Weidman made two late attempts for a takedown but Covington sprawled away as time ran out to secure the victory. Considering how much size Covington was giving up, it was still an impressive feat to beat Weidman and remain undefeated with a 3-0 record in RAF. Now Covington is ready for a showdown against Tsarukyan, which could end up as the biggest match in RAF history.

Arman Tsarukyan gave up a surprising four-point throw but he made up for that in rapid-fire fashion after a takedown and several consecutive rolls to rack up a 16-5 lead for a tech fall victory over Mugzy to kick off RAF 9 on Saturday. The top-ranked UFC lightweight contender had a surprising place on the card but showed why he’s quickly becoming the face of the organization with another impressive win. While Mugzy was able to get a slick throw, Tsarukyan countered with a beautiful single-leg takedown before wrapping the legs for several consecutive turns to tack on points in succession. Once he reached a 10-point lead, that ended the match with the final score 16-5 in favor of Tsarukyan. Afterwards, Tsarukyan wasted no time turning his attention towards Colby Covington, who competes in the RAF 9 co-main event against Chris Weidman. “I feel great,” Tsarukyan said after the win. “I knew I’m going to win. I’ve got to give a little bit to these guys. Shout out to Mugzy. Thank you for coming. “We’ve got tonight Colby Covington, I hope he’s going to win and I’m going to whoop his ass. I’m going to show who is the best MMA wrestler on the mats.” It didn’t take long for Tsarukyan to score a pushout and then he snatched leg to bring Mugzy down to the ground for his first takedown. Tsarukyan then earned a turn on the mat as he sought a potential pin but Mugzy resisted, although he was down 5-0 early in the first period. A second later, Mugzy pulled off a nasty throw as he turned to earn four points to put him back in the match. There was a brief chippy moment after another pushout with Tsarukyan briefly bumping Mugzy with a head butt but nothing crazy happened. On the restart, Tsarukyan delivered the perfectly timed takedown that allowed him to wrap up Mugzy’s legs as he started twisting and turning to score multiple points to end the match. The competition was close for a matter of seconds but Tsarukyan ultimately dominated to score the first round win. Tsarukyan remains undefeated under the RAF banner and now he’ll surely turn his attention towards the co-main event with hopes that he could face off with Covington next.

Arman Tsarukyan needed less than three minutes to rack up 16 points for a win at RAF 9