In the modern era, ask AI to draw a picture of someone playing the victim, and it’s likely to spit out an image of Arman Tsarukyan.
That’s a story lede worthy of the age we’re living in, to be certain, but one that jibes with the vast majority of incidents with Tsarukyan’s name in headlines the past 16 months.
Tsarukyan found himself in the news again Thursday when flight attendants removed him and a pair of teammates from an American Airlines flight set to leave Los Angeles for Philadelphia. According to reports, they were removed for safety violations and not cooperating with flight attendants.
Naturally, Tsarukyan maintains he did nothing wrong, and it’s another case of the system working against him unfairly.
When contacted Thursday, MMA Junkie initially was not given a comment from American Airlines. The company later issued a statement on Tsarukyan’s removal to MMA Fighting.
“On April 16, American Airlines flight 513 returned to the gate at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) for customers who refused to follow federal regulations. Safety is our top priority and we expect our customers to comply with crew member instructions while on board our aircraft, which include staying seated while the aircraft is taxiing,” the statement reads.
While initial reports inferred Tsarukyan and his teammates were removed for being on their phones while taxiing, the AA statement indicates it had to do with not being in their seats.
Multiple videos have been posted to social media showing the incident and some of its aftermath. Tsarukyan later posted his own video saying he had switched to a private plane for the trip to Philadelphia, where he is set to wrestle at RAF08 on Saturday against 46-year-old Urijah Faber.
Tsarukyan, 29, has found himself largely outside the good graces of members of the UFC brass, particularly UFC CEO Dana White, ever since he pulled out of a title fight against Islam Makhachev the day of weigh-ins at UFC 311.
He didn’t fight until November 2025 after that and submitted Dan Hooker with ease, but he’s been left out of the mix of being an actual No. 1 contender after the weight-cutting incident for the Makhachev fight.
Along with punching a fan during his UFC 300 walkout, which led to a suspension, he also headbutted Hooker at their ceremonial weigh-ins, has publicly taken shots at the UFC for matchmaking and was involved in a post-match brawl with Georgio Poullas at an RAF event earlier this year.
White has said he likes Tsarukyan as a fighter, but that he needs to not turn fight week into a drama-filled circus.
