UWC MIDDLEWEIGHT TONY VARTANIAN SHOT & KILLED BY POLICE
Fight Ticker
3
Sept 9 2008
Death Headline Police Tony Vartanian UWC
TampaBay.com is reporting that MMA fighter Roobik "Tony" Vartanian
was shot and killed early this past Saturday in Tampa, Florida when
a confrontation with two men at a nightclub he managed attracted
the attention of the cops. While there are differing stories on
what happened once the cops were on the scene, the end result was
that Vartanian was shot in the stomach by one of the cops and died
soon thereafter.
The police say that Vartanian had drawn a gun on the two men and
refused to put it down when asked twice by the police. Club manager
Aydin Ravaee, who witnessed the shooting, disputes the police claims.
Vartanian was scheduled to fight at 185 pounds on UWC’s October 11
card in Northern Virginia against Ron Stallings (a fighter out of
Lloyd Irvin’s gym in Maryland). Vartanian, who fought out of Tampa,
was 4-2 in MMA action.
An Armenian immigrant, Vartanian had previously been arrested for
six felonies and four misdemeanors. However, his friends say that
he had changed his ways in recent years. Vartanian leaves behind a
three-year-old daughter.
While Vartanian wasn’t nearly as well known as Evan Tanner, whose
death has also been reported over the last 12 hours, his demise
is still gut-wrenching and appears to have been avoidable. All the
details aren’t in yet, but such a violent death is still sad to report.
For a complete account of the night’s events and for more information
about Vartanian, head over to TampaBay.com.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
