This is the live blog for Arman Tsarukyan vs. Lance Palmer, a featured matchup at RAF 5 on Saturday night at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Fla.
Viewed by some as the top lightweight in MMA right now, Arman Tsarukyan is in an interesting spot in his career. Despite being the presumptive No. 1 contender for UFC champion Ilia Topuria, Tsarukyan was not chosen to compete in this month’s interim lightweight title fight at UFC 324, and has spent much of the past year engaging in grappling matches, including a modified rules bout against Shara Bullet a few weeks ago. Now, while Tsarukyan waits to return to the cage, he’s dipping his toe into straight wrestling, making his RAF debut.
A four-time NCAA Division-I All-American wrestler for Ohio State University, Palmer did not have any notable success on the senior wrestling circuit and transitioned to MMA almost immediately after his collegiate career ended. That was a good decision as Palmer became a two-time WSOF featherweight champion and two-time PFL tournament winner in his MMA career. The last few years have been unkind to Palmer though, going just 1-5 in MMA, losing a grappling match at Karate Combat, and losing his RAF debut to Austin Gomez at RAF 1.
Check out the live blog for Tsarukyan vs. Palmer below.
Tsarukyan and Palmer lock up early and Tsarukyan grabs a front headlock almost immediately! Tsarukyan uses the snapdown and drives over, going for back exposure but Palmer is able to fend him off, still, Tsarukyan gets 4 points right out of the gate.
Palmer to a leg and drives but they stall out of bounds. Reset and Tsarukyan pushes Palmer out of bounds to score again. They reset and again, Tsarukyan pushes Palmer out of bounds. 6-0 Tsarukyan. Another reset and Tsarukyan gets a snapdown to a front headlock, puts him down, and then spins to the back for a takedown! Tsarukyan is running away with this!
Tsarukyan goes for the gut wrench and gets it! There’s the back exposure and Tsarukyan has finished it in the first period! Tech fall for Arman Tsarukyan, who hits another back exposure for good measure, and then celebrates!
Arman Tsarukyan def. Lance Palmer via tech fall (10-0).
