Chasing Armenian sports: A chaotic trip to the White House
My trip to the White House began around three in the morning in Fresno. I drove to the television station where I worked, left my car there and walked roughly a mile to the airport.
A few days later, at almost the same hour, I would be sitting beside a microphone in Washington, asking UFC President Dana White and a newly crowned UFC champion about Arman Tsarukyan. Then I would fly back to Fresno and go to work the day I landed.
At the time, I was a television reporter working full time. For years, I had used vacation days to travel and cover Armenian athletes through Armenian Sports News. I loved doing it enough to spend my own money and use time off from one reporting job to take on another. Getting home did not always leave much time to recover.
This trip was supposed to begin in St. Louis, where I would cover Real American Freestyle (RAF) 10, a high-profile freestyle wrestling event. Tsarukyan was wrestling Tony Ferguson, and Armenian wrestler Arsen Harutyunyan was making his debut with the promotion. Andre Khatchaturian, who founded Armenian Sports News, would already be in Washington covering the lead-up to UFC Freedom 250, a UFC event held on the South Lawn of the White House. I planned to join him there Sunday.
First, I had to get to St. Louis.
I have had flights delayed for plenty of reasons. Weather, maintenance, late-arriving aircraft, you name it. This time, a broken tray table held us up for nearly two hours. By the time I reached St. Louis, the press conference I had traveled to cover was already starting.
I covered it remotely using the event content we had permission to share. I still had Saturday’s competition to look forward to.
Then, on Saturday afternoon, American Airlines canceled my Sunday flight to Washington because of inclement weather. Waiting until the next morning and risking another problem could mean missing the White House event altogether.
Andre found a Southwest flight leaving St. Louis that evening around 7 p.m. It was already about 3:30. I called an Uber, rushed to the hotel and asked the driver to wait while I ran upstairs. I threw everything into my luggage, got back in the car and headed to the airport.
Leaving meant giving up the chance to cover RAF from the arena. I had traveled to St. Louis to watch two Armenian athletes compete, and now I was leaving before either of them did. But getting to Washington meant making that choice.
I landed around 9:30 that night. Tsarukyan beat Ferguson, Harutyunyan won his debut, and I covered both from a hotel room.
By Sunday, the rush had shifted to collecting my credential and finding my way through streets closed around the White House. Later, Andre and I headed toward the Ellipse, filmed introductory videos and watched the area fill with fans.
There are moments when you get so focused on producing content that you forget where you are. I had gone from walking to Fresno’s airport to covering a UFC event at the White House in the span of a few days.
We spent much of the night in a nearby media room. No Armenian fighter was on the card, but the lightweight championship between Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje mattered to Tsarukyan and his future in the division. During the broadcast, we also noticed that one of the first responders who walked out with UFC fighter Ciryl Gane was Armenian. We covered that, too.
Those were the connections I wanted our readers to be able to follow. An Armenian athlete’s story could continue even on a night when he was not competing. Someone else might appear on the broadcast for only a moment and still give our audience a reason to pay attention.
During the broadcast, we also noticed that one of the first responders who walked out with UFC fighter Ciryl Gane was Armenian. We covered that, too.
Gaethje upset Topuria. The fights ended around 1:30 a.m., and we waited for the post-fight press conference.
I found a seat directly beside one of the microphones. If I got a chance to ask a question, I wanted to be ready.
My first question to Dana White was about sports bringing people from around the world together. His answer was fairly general, but he mentioned betting, which gave me an opening.
Before the fight, there had been attention around a reported $1 million wager connected to Tsarukyan’s camp backing Gaethje. It had returned $5.7 million. Tsarukyan had also said on a livestream that he would buy Gaethje a truck if he won.
I asked Dana about the wager. Before he could fully answer, Gaethje jumped in to clarify that the person who had placed it was Tsarukyan’s friend.
“And his buddy made some cheddar,” Gaethje said.
I brought up Tsarukyan’s promise and asked Gaethje what kind of truck he wanted.
“Buy him a Ram,” Dana said.
Gaethje laughed and agreed. He said he could use a new truck because he was still driving the 2020 model he had bought after beating Tony Ferguson.
The adrenaline hit immediately. Andre had been operating the cameras, and afterward he came over and patted me on the back.
“That was amazing.”
By then, it was nearly three in the morning. The exchange gave me a moment to take in where I was and what had happened. I had missed one press conference, left another event before it began and scrambled onto a replacement flight. Now I had asked Dana White and the new lightweight champion about an Armenian fighter after a UFC event at the White House.
Still, I was not completely satisfied with how I had worded my first question. After the press conference, I approached Dana and apologized if it had been unclear.
He told me not to worry. He said he thought it was a good question and had simply had trouble hearing me. We fist-bumped, I thanked him and he left to catch a flight.
Even after an exchange I was excited about, I was thinking about the question I could have asked better. I wanted to make the most of the opportunity, and that included making myself clear.
Andre and I went back to the hotel. There were still clips to edit and posts to publish. I finally fell asleep around 6:30 a.m.
Even after an exchange I was excited about, I was thinking about the question I could have asked better.
I had one free day in Washington before flying home. Then, on Tuesday, I was back at the airport around 5 a.m. I landed in Fresno around 10 a.m., went home, showered and gave myself a couple of hours to regroup before heading to the television station.
Walking back into the station, I was still riding the excitement of Washington. I had just covered a UFC event at the White House, and now I was back in Fresno for another shift. Tuesday was essentially my Monday. I was excited about what had happened, while realizing I was stepping back into my normal routine.
That was the part of these trips people did not always see. A few minutes from a press conference could capture the excitement. The vacation days I used to travel for these events, the expenses and the work waiting when I got home were harder to show.
Covering the UFC event at the White House gave me one of my favorite moments as a sports journalist. I also cared about the match I had left St. Louis too early to see. Harutyunyan was beginning something new, and I wanted Armenian readers to be able to follow him, just as I wanted them to understand what the lightweight title fight meant for Tsarukyan.
That was why I kept finding room for these trips, even when coming home meant showering, taking a couple of hours to regroup and heading back to work. For Armenian Americans watching from home, I wanted there to be someone paying attention to those details and asking the next question.
