Arman Tsarukyan did just enough to edge out former UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira via split decision last weekend at UFC 300, but the rising title contender nearly saw the fight ruled the other way.
Many thought Tsarukyan was biting off more than he could chew as a near 2:1 betting favorite for his main card clash with Oliveira. UFC 300 was the biggest platform Tsarukyan has ever fought on and Oliveira was the best opponent he’s ever faced outside of a debut loss to Islam Makhachev back in 2019. It was Tsarukyan’s chance to prove his doubters wrong and capture the win that would launch him into title contention at 155 pounds.
To much surprise, Tsarukyan was nearly finished by Oliveira in the opening minutes of the fight. Oliveira got a hold of a nasty guillotine choke and was seconds away from putting Tsarukyan to sleep. Fortunately for Tsarukyan, he fought to wiggle his head free and eventually regained control of the fight.
The remaining rounds were pretty entertaining, but Tsarukyan was the more controlling fighter. Outside of another submission attempt by “Do Bronx” to close out the third round Tsarukyan seemed to have the fight in the bag. While Tsarukyan did walk away with the split-decision win, judge Mike Bell ruled the contest in favor of Oliveira by giving him the first and third frames. It wasn’t the worst ruling we’ve seen in recent memory, but Bell still reached out to Tsarukyan after UFC 300 to apologize for his score.
“Yesterday with (Ariel) Helwani, I talked to referee (judge), he did the mistake on the third round because he gave to Oliveira,” Tsarukyan told Daniel Cormier earlier this week. “My coach talked to him. He called my coach and said ‘Sorry, yeah, you were right. I wasn’t give to Oliveira.’ So, he said apologize too for that.”
It’s very rare to see a judge go out of their way to apologize for a scorecard, but thankfully Bell did. This was Tsarukyan’s biggest fight of his career and he wasn’t going to let one silly judge spoil it for him.
“If I lose this fight, I would kill him, yeah,” Tsarukyan said. “He’s going to kill my career, you know? I’ve been training like 10 years non-stop, you know? And like, everyday, like, think about the fight, cut weight, train, like a lot of surgeries, trauma, drama.
“I don’t know, all things together, and, like, some judge, like maybe he was watching his phone. But like, now we’re good. Thank you for that. He said, ‘I understood I was wrong for that.’”
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