The second-ranked lightweight contender in the UFC, Russian Arman Tsarukyan, recalled his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the S-70 Platform tournament.
"When I started fighting, I always watched that tournament, and I just kept thinking, ‘I wish I could get that S-70 belt one day.’ Since two or three people from Khabarovsk fought there, I thought, ‘I wish I could fight there someday.’ I really loved belts. And there, you win one fight, and they immediately give you the belt—how cool is that?
Time passes, and I get offered a fight there. It’s like in the UFC, you could say, that was the offer. When you get a UFC contract, and this contract—they’re comparable. And Vladimir Vladimirovich will be there too… And there was such a huge responsibility, the Russian team versus the world team. I was really excited. I choked out my Brazilian, and Vladimir Vladimirovich awarded me the belt. All the guys grabbed their phones, wanting to take a photo with him, but they were afraid. And I was the first one to say, “Vladimir Vladimirovich, can I take a selfie with you?” So I took a selfie with him, and then everyone started trying to take pictures with him too. And the next year, I repeated the same trick. Well, he has an incredible aura. If I’d lost, I definitely wouldn’t have forgiven myself. The motivation was very strong. “To meet a person like Vladimir Vladimirovich is worth a lot,” Tsarukyan said in an interview with “Championship” correspondent Sergei Sorokin.
