MMA veterans Arman Tsarukyan and Patricky ‘Pitbull’ Freire have just been booked to face each other in a grappling match at ADXC 10 on May 31st, 2025. It’s a matchup that nobody would have predicted and although it is billed as a catchweight match, both men usually compete at lightweight in MMA. It’s nothing that ADXC haven’t done before though, as they regularly manage to attract some of the best MMA fighters in the world for no gi grappling matches. Big names like James Gallagher, Derek Brunson, and Urijah Faber are just some of the elite fighters who have stepped into the ADXC cage since the promotion first began in 2023.
This is one of the biggest matches they’ve managed to put together though, as Tsarukyan and Freire have competed for almost every major MMA promotion in the world between them. Freire accounts for most of that though, as he’s a former Bellator world champion and a finalist of both the RIZIN FF and Bellator grand prix tournaments. Most recently Freire was seen competing in the 2024 season of PFL and this grappling match will actually be the first time that fans have been able to see him in the cage this year. Although Freire won the majority of his fights through his powerful striking, he is a BJJ black belt and it’ll be interesting to see how he fares without the use of strikes.
Tsarukyan on the other hand has spent almost his entire MMA career fighting in the UFC, joining the promotion after spending just 3 years on the regional MMA circuit. He has a used a much wider range of skills throughout his career and one of his most useful weapons has been his freestyle wrestling background. Tsarukyan has also had more recent experience in professional grappling matches than Freire, as it was just a few days ago that he won his debut at Pit Submission Series 12. The shorter rounds that ADXC use will likely encourage Tsarukyan to keep it on the feet, but Freire might be more eager to fight off his back.
ADXC announced the news that Arman Tsarukyan would face Patricky ‘Pitbull’ Freire in a catchweight match at ADXC 10 in a recent post to their official Instagram account:
