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Usually the perils of fight week come down to weight cutting problems and unexpected illnesses. Occasionally, a fighter might get injured in their final days of preparatory sparring, but outside of that, it’s supposed to be a time for interviews, regulatory meetings, and careful dieting. Not a time to start a little extra-curricular fisticuffs.
Unfortunately for Bobby Green, that’s exactly the situation he found himself in at a hotel in Austin this week—where he was confronted by fellow UFC lightweight Arman Tsarukyan. Tsarukyan more than likely was looking to respond to recent comments Green had made about the 27-year-old being “f—ing boring.”
Video of UFC lightweights Arman Tsarukyan and Bobby Green in hotel confrontation
Earlier this fight week, MMA Fighting’s Brian Martin revealed that he had been in the middle of a phone interview when Arman Tsarukyan approached Green and some sort of altercation occurred. At the time, there was no further information about the incident, beyond Martin’s post on social media.
However, video has since surfaced of the incident, showing Green (on the phone) sitting in a hallway at what appears to be the fighter hotel in Austin, TX, when Tsarukyan and his entourage approach.
“Why are you talking shit about me?” Tsarukyan can be heard asking, as he approaches the 37-year-old Pinnacle MMA fighter.
“Talking shit about you?” Green asked in response, adding, “Whatever you wanna do, you wanna do, bro.”
“We can go one-on-one,” Tsarukyan replied as Green told him to “Get your people out of my face.”
After a few more exchanged words, Green pushed Tsarukyan away from him, after which the Russo-Armenian fighter made a quick lunge for Green’s throat. Security intervened shortly after.
In a video vlog for his UFC headlining bout this week, Tsarukyan uploaded a video of the interaction to his YouTube channel.
Bobby Green responds to incident
In a video posted to his social media accounts, Green explained his side of the altercation.
“Hey, I don’t be starting nothing with nobody, but if you start that s—t with me, I’m definitely going to finish it,” said Green in another video. “This s—t just starting. N—a might go to jail tonight, f—k around playing with me. This b—h ass n—a ran up on me and s—t, trying to start that s—t. He didn’t know I was going to finish it. I sock one of his homies. Bop. Stop playing with me, bro.”
“…You n—s be trying to do all that talking,” continued Green. “Ay, I need somebody else, too, to tell me who that is in that video. I don’t know who the f—k he is, but he was acting super tough. Them n—s ran up on me by myself, they all ran up on me and they was acting all that tough. As soon as I ran into that n—a again with my n—s, then he was, ‘Oh, no. Oh, no. No. No.’ No, you started this s—t. As soon as security comes, you want to act tough again.”
UFC official tells Tsarukyan ‘this is not the WWE’
While Tsarukyan’s own vlog surprisingly didn’t seem to include any sort of extra explanation or reaction to, or breakdown of the series of events that led to him confronting Green or how he felt about the whole thing, it did include a terse meeting with UFC staff.
“Police are coming here right now. We can’t have this. This is not the WWE,” a UFC staff member can be seen telling Tsarukyan and his team.
“It doesn’t matter,” the man continued, as Tsarukyan attempted to explain the incident. “We’re talking to [Green], we’re talking to you guys.”
“[Bobby] sneaked us like a coward,” one of Tsarukyan’s entourage can be heard saying.
While Green and Tsarukyan both got a little fighting in early, both men still have opponents in front of them this Saturday. Green is set to take on Jalin Turner in the co-main event, with Turner filling in on just over a week’s notice after Dan Hooker withdrew from the bout due to injury. Tsarukyan will face top contender Beneil Dariush in the main event.
Bobby Green gets a little revenge
Just a few hours after the first skirmish, new video has surfaced of Bobby Green and his crew tracking down Arman and as you might have already guessed, another dust-up ensued. The video shows the exchange. No word yet on the UFC’s response to this latest scuffle, if they’re even going to make one.
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