Dana White’s Approval Backfires on Diego Lopes, Purse Withheld Along With Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 300

UFC 300 may have had some exciting moments, but it also had some bizarre incidents. The victims of those incidents were Arman Tsarukyan and Diego Lopes. As per recent reports, the purses of both fighters that they were about to earn for their fights in the last UFC pay-per-view have been withheld. Lopes and Tsarukyan registered impressive wins against Sodiq Yusuff and former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira, respectively.

Their celebrations, however, came to an end after they were penalized for their actions during the PPV. Let’s see what went down.

Despite Dana White’s permission, Diego Lopes and Arman Tsarukuyan got reprimanded

Diego Lopes has been scheduled to appear in an NSAC hearing to discuss his actions after the fight. He jumped out of the cage after knocking out Sodiq Yusuff in the very first round of their fight, which was a big issue for the committee since it is one of the few things that fighters cannot do even though many UFC fighters have jumped out of the cage in the past.

Sources claim that Diego Lopes had taken permission specifically from Dana White to be able to jump out of the cage after the fight to celebrate his win. Currently, discussions are going on between the UFC, NSAC, and the 29-year-old’s representative agency to resolve the issue. Meanwhile, a similar situation has occurred with Arman Tsarukyan as well.

‘Ahalkalakets’ scored the biggest win of his career against Charles Oliveira. The Armenian star almost lost the fight after getting stuck in a guillotine submission. However, Arman Tsarukyan fought through that to defeat ‘Do Bronxs’ via a split decision. He is now in championship contention, but his celebration was cut short due to punching a fan.

Arman Tsarukyan got into a scuffle with a fan while walking out to the Octagon for the fight against Charles Oliveira. The fan in question had apparently taunted the Armenian star, which enraged him. However, this action was seen as misconduct by the NSAC and he will also be appearing alongside Diego Lopes to discuss his actions with the commission. Dana White addressed the issue during the post-fight UFC 300 presser and seemed to side with Tsarukyan to an extent, but that did not help.

Not only that, but Igor Severino will also appear in the NSAC hearing of his indiscretion at UFC Vegas 89.

Igor Severino to appear in the NSAC hearing for biting his opponent

Igor Severino, who made his debut at UFC Vegas 89, did not have the kind of debut he envisioned in the world’s biggest MMA promotion. The Brazilian fighter was disqualified in his bout against Andre Lima. Severino bit his opponent in the second round of the fight and now he is also scheduled to make an appearance at the NSAC hearing next Tuesday.

Although it was a bad day for Igor Severino, it was a great one for Andre Lima. After Dana White got word about the biting incident, he decided to give him double the bonus, which amounted to $100,000. Lima would later go on to put a tattoo of the bite mark on the exact place where he was bitten by Igor Severino, who was released shortly after the incident.

It’s not pleasant to see fighters getting their paychecks withheld after they spent months training for a single fight. But there are certain things that professional athletes are expected to follow, which the NSAC believes Diego Lopes, Arman Tsarukyan, and Igor Severino did not.

What are your thoughts about the aforementioned three incidents? Let us know in the comments below.