Ryan Garcia's dispute with Arman Tsarukyan has escalated following a controversial $40,000 bet made during a livestream.
Garcia was seen handing over stacks of cash after losing the wager, which involved Tsarukyan's friend and boxer Rafayel Simonyan. However, the UFC fighter later claimed the money was returned for verification and never paid back.
That disagreement led to public comments from 'Ahalkalakets', who insisted the WBC welterweight champion still owed him the amount. The situation has now developed further with a direct response.
Photo by Noushad Thekkayil/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Garcia responded on X by challenging the UFC lightweight contender to an eight-round boxing fight, raising the stakes well beyond the original bet.
'King Ryan' also accused Tsarukyan's team of misleading him by not revealing Simonyan's professional boxing background. The posts were later deleted.
He wrote: "Arman and his team, we can just set up a squabble between whoever on your team. No body shot things, just a fight. Not for 40k, for however much. I'm not paying you s—. Let's just fight. If any of you can win, I'll give you 100k.
"Like I said I ain't paying s—, no one is going to hide the fact he's a professional fighter and play me for 40k. You pay the bet then everyone in the comments… I just agreed to Arman to fight, I box him and he can do elbows.
"Ryan Garcia vs Arman 100k. If he survives 8 rounds, we give him the money on stream. Time is ticking."
Despite Garcia deleting the posts, Tsarukyan replied by offering a different type of challenge.
He called on the American boxer to take part in an MMA sparring session instead of a boxing match.
Tsarukyan stated: "$100k for 8 rounds lol. Survive 1 round of MMA sparring with me and I'll give you $1,000,000."
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