Arman Tsarukyan says UFC 300 judge apologized for scoring fight in Charles Oliveira's favor

Arman Tsarukyan says the one judge who scored his fight at UFC 300 against him admitted he was wrong.

Tsarukyan (22-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) defeated former champion Charles Oliveira (34-10 MMA, 22-10 UFC) by split decision on Saturday’s main card at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. He was puzzled by the outcome.

Both judge Adalaide Byrd and Ron McCarthy gave Tsarukyan Rounds 2 and 3, but it was judge Mike Bell who scored Rounds 1 and 3 for Oliveira, which resulted in a split decision. Tsarukyan said that Bell acknowledged he made a mistake by awarding Oliveira the final frame.

“Yesterday with (Ariel) Helwani, I talked to referee (judge), he did the mistake on the third round because he gave to Oliveira,” Tsarukyan said in an interview with Daniel Cormier. “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.”

Tsarukyan, who turned down a short-notice opportunity to challenge UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, said a loss would have been devastating 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.'”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 300.