Arman Tsarukyan has been unbeaten since entering RAF, winning all seven of his appearances – and now has his eyes on a bigger stage…
Tthe 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Tsarukyan laid out his plans in a recent statement, describing a path that would take him from MMA into pure freestyle wrestling at the sport’s highest level:
I’m gradually becoming a wrestler. In a year, I’ll start competing against real wrestlers.
It’s possible that I’ll compete at the next Olympic Games.Before that, I need to settle everything in the UFC.
Then, if I can win the Armenian or Russian championship, I’ll decide which country to represent.
The 29-year-old Armenian holds a 23-3 professional record across 26 UFC bouts since debuting in 2019, most recently submitting Dan Hooker on November 22, 2025, a win that further reinforced his position among the division’s elite.
Despite that success in MMA, Tsarukyan has increasingly gravitated toward wrestling in its purest form, a shift reflected in his move to RAF in 2026, where he’s gone undefeated across seven contests and shown that his wrestling ability extends well beyond the ground game that’s made him so dangerous at 155 lbs (70.3 kg).
The Olympic path isn’t straightforward, though.
Tsarukyan has said his wrestling ambitions depend on first finishing his business in the UFC, and with a title opportunity widely viewed as inevitable given his ranking, he’s in no rush to walk away from that chance.
If he does clear that hurdle, the next step would be winning either the Armenian or Russian national championship, a result that would validate his belief that he can compete with wrestlers who’ve spent their entire careers focused solely on the discipline.
Tsarukyan, born in Russia but a longtime representative of Armenia in MMA, has also left open which country he might compete for at the Olympics, with the decision likely coming down to wherever gives him the clearest path to qualification and a shot at the podium in Los Angeles.
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