Arman Tsarukyan booked for 5th RAF match in 5 months, this time at RAF 9

Arman Tsarukyan can’t stop, won’t stop. The top-ranked UFC lightweight contender is set to make his fifth appearance of 2026 on the Real American Freestyle mats when he takes on Keelon Jimison in a 175-pound wrestling match on May 30 at RAF 9, Uncrowned’s Ariel Helwani confirmed Tuesday.

The news marks the latest side-quest for Tsarukyan, who has already competed five times outside of the UFC since January.

Tsarukyan, 29, defeated Lance Palmer in January at RAF 5, ignited a wild brawl in a win over Georgio Poullas in late February at RAF 6, then bested former UFC flyweight Muhammad Mokaev in a grappling match in Brazil just weeks later. In his highest-profile match to date, Tsarukyan topped Poullas once again in March’s rematch at RAF 7, then followed it up with a dominant tech fall victory over Urijah Faber this month at RAF 8.

Ever a man in pursuit of a viral clip, Tsarukyan once again garnered headlines against Faber by running the 46-year-old UFC Hall of Famer off the mat and slamming him onto the outer concrete floor during their match. Faber, though, took the incident in stride, jokingly telling Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show” that Tsarukyan helped fix his bad back with the hard fall.

Tsarukyan, the No. 1-ranked UFC lightweight contender, has not competed in the UFC since extending his five-fight win streak with a second-round submission of Dan Hooker at UFC Qatar in November.

Jimison has wrestled three times with RAF, losing at the hands of Cayden Henschel and Poullas before beating UFC veteran Clay Guida via tech fall in February.

RAF 9 takes place at College Park CenterinArlington, Texas. Olympic champion Gable Steveson and former UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili make their promotional debuts against UFC veterans Alexander Romanov and Frankie Edgar, respectively, on the night’s card, which also features Colby Covington vs. Chris Weidman in another all-UFC battle.