Merab Dvalishvili’s highly anticipated debut at the RAF fizzled out after Henry Cejudo’s last-minute injury scrapped their freestyle wrestling bout. But it seems ‘The Machine’ still had a chance to compete that night. The former UFC bantamweight champion revealed that the promotion actually offered him Arman Tsarukyan as a replacement opponent. However, the Georgian turned it down for two reasons.

“After they did offer me Arman Tsarukyan, but that matchup doesn’t make sense,” Merab revealed on the Ariel Helwani Show. “Especially Arman wants to compete with Urijah and with me. And also, he’s two weight classes bigger than me and stuff like this. And actually, I was thinking about it. But thank God I don’t think because of what I see what Arman did against Urijah Faber, a legend. I was disappointed, you know, Arman should not throw him out like that.”

For those who don’t know, the RAF promoted UFC lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan and Urijah Faber’s grappling match to the main event after Merab vs Cejudo fizzled out. Tsarukyan completely dominated Urijah Faber, winning the bout via tech fall. But more shockingly, the Armenian ended up throwing the veteran over the commentary table during the match, which could have seriously hurt both of them. Thankfully, neither sustained a serious injury. However, that move stirred major controversy after the match.

Later, Urijah Faber, who was taken to the hospital, praised Tsarukyan’s wrestling control in a social media post. But the head of Team Alpha Male also took a dig at the Armenian’s anger issues, writing, “Except for self-control. Spoiled kid for life,” in the caption. Faber’s post-match comments did not go unnoticed by Merab Dvalishvili, who weighed in on the veteran’s professionalism.

“Urijah is a very good man and a very good fighter,” Dvalishvili added in the same interview. “I have even more respect for him, like how he handled the situation. Because I don’t like how Arman threw him out, you know, that wasn’t necessary and should not happen.”

‘The Machine’ clearly implied that, as a result, he wasn’t in any mood to clash with Arman Tsarukyan in a freestyle wrestling match. However, ‘Ahalkalakets’ was more than happy to do it.

Merab Dvalishvili reveals Arman Tsarukyan was ready to fight twice at RAF 8

For those who thought Arman Tsarukyan would’ve stopped after beating Urijah Faber at RAF, Merab Dvalishvili’s revelation suggests otherwise. During the interview, Ariel Helwani asked Dvalishvili whether the Armenian would’ve fought twice if he had accepted the offer, and Dvalishvili answered with a definitive ‘yes.’

“I guess he was ready to do it, yes,” Merab said.

After that, Helwani also brought up an interesting moment. At the RAF 8 event, Tsarukyan actually approached Merab and had a brief conversation with him. Helwani initially thought there might have been some confrontation, but ‘The Machine’ cleared the air.

“No, he was cool,” Merab added. “Actually, he was very cool and respectful. No, nothing. I’m cool with Arman. He’s a great fighter. He’s my neighbor. He’s from Armenia. He was born in Georgia. A lot of Armenians live in Georgia. We are brothers and neighbors. Arman is a good fighter. I have so much respect for what he’s done for the sport and everything.”

Merab is now scheduled to make his RAF debut against Frankie Edgar at RAF 9. Interestingly, Tsarukyan will also compete on the same card against an influencer named Mugzy. With both fighters now set to appear on the same RAF 9 card, the promotion has a clear opportunity to build toward a future showdown.