The fan who was the target of an Arman Tsarukyan punch during the fighter’s walkout at UFC 300 doesn’t plan on taking legal action against the promotion.
Video surfaced of Tsarukyan throwing a punch into the crowd as he walked to the Octagon for his lightweight bout against Charles Oliveira at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday night. The fan, who has been identified as Obed Ardon, has issued a statement regarding his actions at the event.
“I’d like to apologize to Arman for provoking him by flipping him off. I was buzzing all day and the moment got to me,” Ardon told Bloody Elbow.
“It was my first time attending a live UFC event and it was absolutely incredible. 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. Congrats to Arman on a great performance and best of luck to him against whoever he fights for the title.”
Tsarukyan briefly addressed the incident during a post-fight media scrum on Saturday.
“He showed me f—k you [flipped the bird] and wanted to punch me, and I wanted to punch him back, that’s it,” Tsarukyan said. “So guys, like no one show me f—k you. Doesn’t matter who you are, I’m going to punch you in the face. You can show me f—k from like 200 meters, I’m not going to punch you. But when you’re close to me, it’s like automatically, I’m like from Russia. Like don’t do that, please, or I’m going to go to the prison in U.S.”
UFC CEO Dana White stated that he expected legal ramifications from the incident.
“Yeah, you might not want to hang over the things and grab people when they’re walking out," White said. "These guys are all f—-g piped up, whatever. I’m sure we’re probably going to get sued. We’ll deal with that on Monday too.”
However, Ardon claims that he plans to take no legal action against the UFC. Instead, the fan hopes to receive ticket’s to the promotion’s International Fight Week event on June 29.
“To answer Dana White’s comments about suing: I will not sue, that never crossed my mind. My first thought was I hope I don’t get kicked out. Thank you Uncle Dana for blessing us with an amazing 300 card… and can you bless me and my brothers up with tickets to UFC 303?”
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