“Olympic Level” Arman? Kurt Angle Breaks Down Tsarukyan vs. Covington Matchup
Olympic gold medalist and WWE Hall of Famer Kurt Angle sees a razor-thin wrestling matchup if Arman Tsarukyan and Colby Covington meet on the RAF mats after RAF 07. His take blends decades of elite mat experience with a close look at where both men are in 2026.
Kurt Angle’s view on Arman Tsarukyan vs. Colby Covington
Backstage at RAF 07, Angle told The Schmo he was impressed by how far Tsarukyan has come in wrestling despite a fragmented background in the sport. He framed a potential Tsarukyan–Covington bout as a tightly contested match rather than a one-sided clinic.
“Colby Covington’s a very tough wrestler and I think Arman Tsarukyan, he didn’t wrestle – he only wrestled when he was a kid. He only did it to help his MMA skills. So it’s incredible to see him do this well knowing he has very little wrestling experience. I think it’s going to be a very close match. I’m not going to say that Colby is going to dominate. I think it’s going to be a very close match. Arman Tsarukyan is the real deal. He could literally go into Olympic wrestling right now and do really well.”
Angle’s comments came minutes after both men picked up wins at RAF 07.
RAF 07 context for the callout
RAF 07 at the Yuengling Center in Tampa put both Tsarukyan and Covington in spotlight bouts. Tsarukyan defeated Georgio Poullas 9–3 in their wrestling rematch, breaking things open with a four-point throw late that sealed the main event. The result followed their heated first meeting, where a tackle and stage brawl at an earlier RAF card forced a second matchup under tighter controls.
On the same card, Covington beat Dillon Danis by technical fall, 14–4, in a 200‑pound catchweight contest, leaning on pace, chain attacks and top control to pull away on the scoreboard. After both had their hands raised, cameras caught Tsarukyan and Covington jawing at close range, keeping security and officials busy as they argued over who ruled the mats that night.
Tsarukyan’s fast-track wrestling rise
Tsarukyan is known primarily as a UFC lightweight contender, sitting near the top of the division and in the promotion’s pound‑for‑pound top 15 in early 2026. What makes Angle’s praise striking is Tsarukyan’s own admission that he walked away from wrestling as a child and spent most of his youth in ice hockey before diving into MMA. He has said he wrestled from age 6 to 9, then dedicated ages 9 to 17 to hockey before circling back to combat sports.
Despite that gap, Tsarukyan has taken to freestyle again under the RAF banner. He debuted on the series at RAF 05, tech‑falling Lance Palmer 10–0 in the first period, then edged Poullas 5–3 at RAF 06 before widening the gap in their RAF 07 rematch. That recent form, paired with his MMA clinch and scrambling game, underpins Angle’s belief that Tsarukyan could test himself in modern Olympic‑level competition.
Colby Covington’s collegiate base and RAF form
Covington brings a more traditional résumé to the proposed matchup. At Oregon State, he wrestled at 174 pounds, earned All‑America honors at the 2011 NCAA Championships and posted a 40–7 junior season with 15 pins and a 20–1 dual‑meet record. In MMA, that foundation translated into a grinding, takedown-heavy style that carried him to multiple UFC welterweight title shots.
The RAF 07 win over Danis served as a reminder of those roots. Covington scored early and often, racking up a 10‑point margin that forced the technical fall and setting the stage for Tsarukyan to single him out on the mic and in post‑event media. Angle’s assessment that Covington is a “very tough wrestler” shows both his college track record and how sharp he looked in the Danis match.
Angle refuses to predict a dominant outing for Covington despite the American’s long collegiate background and fresh RAF 07 technical fall. For him, the matchup comes down to timing, pace and how Tsarukyan’s surging, unorthodox path to the mats clashes with Covington’s proven college system.
