Arman Tsarukyan tech falls Urijah Faber in RAF 8 main event

Arman Tsarukyan overwhelmed Urijah Faber with a 13-1 tech fall in the third period at RAF 8 on Saturday night in Philadelphia, closing out a card that lost its scheduled headliner hours before bell time. Henry Cejudo withdrew from his rematch with Merab Dvalishvili due to injury, forcing the promotion to bump Tsarukyan-Faber into the main event slot at Temple’s Liacouras Center, per MMA Fighting.

Tsarukyan scored four points off a snap-down in the opening exchange, then rolled Faber twice for gut-wrench points to build an 8-0 cushion before the first period ended. The UFC lightweight contender extended his RAF record to 4-0, having competed on each of the promotion’s last three cards despite minimal wrestling background. Faber, 46 and a former WEC champion, stayed mobile in the early tie-ups but gave up nearly the entire second period to positional pressure.

Tsarukyan drives Faber off the mat in wild sequence

The finish came in Period 3 after a bizarre moment in the second, when Tsarukyan shot a single leg and drove Faber clear off the stage and over the commentary desk. “They went right over the commentary booth. And it’s a miracle nobody got hurt,” MMA Fighting’s Jed Meshew wrote on the live blog. Tsarukyan collected a push-out point but also conceded one for the illegal exit. He closed the match with a high-crotch entry into a throw for the tech fall stoppage, improving to 13-1 on the scoreboard.

After the bout, Tsarukyan let Faber throw him in a show of respect, then fielded an in-cage challenge from Colby Covington, who attended the event. “RAF, next time you need two mats for me,” Tsarukyan told Chael Sonnen during the post-fight interview, according to MMA Mania. Covington is currently scheduled to face Chris Weidman at a future RAF card but said he wanted Tsarukyan instead. Tsarukyan responded by calling out Sonnen himself for a future match.

Kyle Snyder retained his heavyweight/" class="internal-link text-bone underline decoration-ash/30 hover:decoration-gold underline-offset-2">light heavyweight title in the co-main event, outpointing Rizabek Aitmukhan 12-6. RAF 9 is set for May 30 with Gable Steveson and the Weidman-Covington bout on the card.

Photo by yousef samuil on Unsplash

Original reporting:

• mmafighting.com — RAF 8 live blog: Arman Tsarukyan vs. Urijah Faber | MMA Fighting
• mmafighting.com — LIVE! RAF 8 Results: Tsarukyan vs. Faber | MMA Fighting
• mmamania.com — RAF 08 live results: Tsarukyan vs. Faber | MMA Mania
• mmamania.com — RAF 08: Cejudo vs. Dvalishvili — Full Card & Start Time | MMA Mania