Tsarukyan continues to stay busy as he awaits his next
assignment from the
UFC.
The lightweight contender will face UFC Hall of Famer Urijah Faber
in the co-main event of Real American Freestyle 8 on April 18 in
Philadelphia. The promotion announced the match on Wednesday. RAF 8
is headlined by a matchup between Merab
Dvalishvili and Henry
Cejudo and airs on Fox nation.
Tsarukyan is coming off a victory over Georgio Poullas at RAF 7 on
March 28. The Russian is now 3-0 under the RAF banner, with
previous triumphs over Poullas and Lance
Palmer. Since submitting Dan Hooker in
the UFC Qatar headliner on Nov. 22, “Ahalkalakets” has competed in
a number of grappling and wrestling matches in other organizations
— including notable matches against the likes of Muhammad
Mokaev and Sharabutdin
Magomedov in Hype FC. Tsarukyan has seemingly been at odds with
the Las Vegas-based promotion since pulling out of a lightweight
title bout against Islam
Makhachev at UFC 311 in January 2025.
Faber was originally supposed to meet Cayden Henschel at RAF 8, but
no reason was given for the change in opponent; Henschel will now
face Palmer at the same event. “The California Kid,” whose last
Octagon appearance came at UFC 245 in December 2019, has competed
periodically in grappling matches since then. He made his RAF debut
on Feb. 28, when he lost to Cejudo via technical fall.
UFC Veterans Collide
NO APRIL FOOLS HERE
Arman
Tsarukyan vs Urijah Faber
at RAF08.Tickets in bio. Stream exclusively on @foxnation
pic.twitter.com/aUgJIOV4OI— Real American Freestyle (@RAFWrestlingUSA)
April 1, 2026