Arman Tsarukyan says throwing Urijah Faber off the stage at RAF 8 was not intentional, but the viral moment still drew sharp criticism from a promotion executive after the match ended.
The sequence unfolded with Tsarukyan already in control before he drove in on a takedown and carried both men off the side of the stage and onto the concrete below. Neither athlete was reportedly injured, and Tsarukyan went on to beat Faber at RAF 8 by technical superiority after widening the score to 13-1.
Afterward, Tsarukyan insisted he was not trying to hurt Faber. He said:
“I don’t control myself so much so if something happens, it’s not like I was thinking about [throwing him off the stage]. Something that happened from my mind. It comes right away.”
The moment immediately became bigger than the match itself, especially because Tsarukyan had already been a headline-maker in RAF before his matchup with Faber was booked for RAF 8.
Arman Tsarukyan just DOMINATED Urijah Faber at RAF 08
Arman really threw him off the mats and into the commentary team 😭pic.twitter.com/xkFHfCPHgu
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) April 19, 2026
Izzy Martinez rips Arman Tsarukyan after Urijah Faber stage spill at RAF 8
After the fall, RAF executive Izzy Martinez made it clear he still hated what happened. Martinez said:
“I don’t like it. I don’t like that.” He then added, “You might as well punch him so he can protect himself. Pushing a guy off the stage is pretty dirty to me and I’m not a big fan of that.”
Martinez doubled down even with the clip blowing up online. He said:
“I didn’t like it on my end, even though it was viral. But I don’t have to like everything. I’ve learned that. It’s a promotional thing and it is what it is.”
Tsarukyan did not mind the attention once Faber avoided injury.
He said, “Thank god, Urijah didn’t get hurt and we went viral. We need that.”
The match itself still ended one-sided, with Tsarukyan taking a 13-1 technical-superiority result after the restart. According to Wikipedia, his most recent UFC fight was a November 2025 main-event loss to Dan Hooker, which helps explain why anything involving his name still spreads quickly.
