Colby Covington doesn’t need a reason to talk trash, but Arman Tsarukyan gave him one. Both won their matches at RAF 9 in Arlington on Saturday, setting up an official matchup for July 18 at RAF 11.
Tsarukyan advanced to 5-0 with a 16-5 technical fall over Mugzy. Covington won a close 5-4 decision against former UFC champion Chris Weidman in the co-main event. Right after leaving the mat, Covington made it clear he dislikes Tsarukyan’s character.
The rivalry is very real. It is backed by past incidents, an infamous stage fall, and a 29-year-old born in Georgia who clashes with someone at almost every RAF event.
Colby Covington Calls Out Arman Tsarukyan’s Urijah Faber Incident
To understand the bad feelings Covington has for Tsarukyan, we need to trace back to RAF 8 in Philadelphia.
During his match, Tsarukyan tackled Urijah Faber so hard that both men flew off the stage onto the concrete floor. Afterward, RAF executive Izzy Martinez called the move dirty because falling off a stage leaves a fighter unprotected. Tsarukyan faced immediate backlash when he admitted he intended to hurt Faber.
Faber shrugged it off on Instagram, joking that Tsarukyan has championship potential but completely lacks self-control. Recalling that moment after winning at RAF 9, Covington made his stance clear.
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He said, “Arman is a fire young man. 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.”
🚨👀 Colby Covington says he wants to teach Arman Tsarukyan a lesson for his past antics
“Arman is a fire young man. 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… pic.twitter.com/oB3BwkQlLe
— FREAK.MMA (@FREAKMMA1) May 31, 2026
“I want to set him straight. I want to teach him a lesson. You don’t come to America and disrespect us Americans. Now he’s going to have to face one of the greatest Americans there is in the wrestling world,” he added.
Tsarukyan, who is the official backup fighter for UFC Freedom 250, is a privileged kid who fights for hobby rather than survival. Most fighters enter the sport to escape poverty, but Tsarukyan grew up wealthy because of his father’s construction business in Russia.
Rivals like Dan Hooker have called him a “rich boy” who lacks the grit of someone who struggled to eat. Tsarukyan has also shown off a $900,000 custom Rolls-Royce and a multi-million dollar home, feeding into that reputation.
To critics, this wealth explains his poor discipline. Before the incident with Faber, Tsarukyan started a brawl by punching his opponent at RAF 6, Georgio Poullas, after the whistle. Such a history of losing his temper makes him an easy target for Covington, who paints him as a spoiled outsider who doesn’t respect the rules.
