Manny Gamburyan

Garcia vs. Gamburyan Possible for WEC 44

Former WEC featherweight title challenger Leonard Garcia could return to action at WEC 44, a yet-to-be-announced event slated for November 18 in Las Vegas, against “Ultimate Fighter 5” cast member Manny Gamburyan.

The news comes from Sherdog.com, which reports that the two fighters have verbally agreed to the bout. WEC 44 is expected to be headlined by Mike Brown defending his WEC featherweight title against rising top contender Jose Aldo.

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Gamburyan Headed to WEC as a Featherweight

After suffering an injury in the finals of the fifth season of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality show and losing three out of his five UFC bouts, Manny Gamburyan will now be making the switch to World Extreme Cagefighting where he he will compete as a featherweight:

Gamburyan says that the move may only be temporary, but he is still excited for the prospects of fighting at in a lighter weight class. His WEC debut is expected to come in either May or June:

“I don’t know if the cut is going to be hard or easy – I haven’t made 145 in almost 10 years – but I’m going to do it in a good way,” he told MMAWeekly.com on Wednesday. “I’m going to put together a beautiful training (camp).”

Last summer, Gamburyan said UFC co-owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta wanted him to make the leap to the WEC’s marquee division after taking on Rob Emerson at UFC 87. But Gamburyan lost, and revised the plan. He would defeat Tavares, challenge two fighters he felt he had unfinished business with (likely Nate Diaz and Sean Sherk), and cut the weight.

The decision to move the 27-year-old was made shortly after the Jan. 31 fight against Tavares. Gamburyan plans on fighting as a lightweight again, but there are plenty of opportunities in the WEC.

The move was a great one by Gamburyan, who has a tremendous skill set, but always came into his fights in the UFC at a disadvantage because of his lack of size for the lightweight division. I wouldn’t expect him to be thrown in against the WEC’s top dogs at 145 lbs right off the bat, but a couple of wins will move him into title contention.

Decisions Galore on UFC 94 Undercard

Jon Fitch’s journey back to the top of the UFC’s welterweight division started off with a win on Saturday night as the former collegiate wrestler grinded out a unanimous decision over Japanese pioneer Akihiro Gono in UFC 94’s most high-profile preliminary bout.

After a spectacular and somewhat odd walk to the Octagon by Gono (29-14-7), the PRIDE veteran spent the first few minutes of his bout against Fitch (18-3) defending constant takedown attempts. Fitch, an American Kickboxing Academy product, was eventually able to bring his opponent to the mat, where the majority of the fight took place.

The former UFC welterweight title challenger nearly finished the fight in the second round with an armbar just before time expired, and survived a last-minute comeback effort from Gono on the feet to win a clear-cut decision on the scorecards.

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All Fighters Make Weight for UFC 94

The official weigh-in results for tomorrow night’s UFC 94 event, which takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, are below. All fighters successfully made weight.

The event is headlined by a highly-anticipated rematch for the UFC welterweight title between reigning champion Georges St. Pierre and UFC lightweight king B.J. Penn. Undefeated light heavyweights Lyoto Machida and Thiago Silva will collide as well.

Main Card:

Georges St. Pierre (170 lbs) vs. B.J. Penn (168 lbs)
Lyoto Machida (206 lbs) vs. Thiago Silva (206 lbs)
Karo Parisyan (170 lbs) vs. Dong-Hyun Kim (171 lbs)
Nate Diaz (156 lbs) vs. Clay Guida (156 lbs)
Stephan Bonnar (206 lbs) vs. Jon Jones (206 lbs)

Preliminary Bouts:

Jon Fitch (171 lbs) vs. Akihiro Gono (171 lbs)
Manny Gamburyan (155 lbs) vs. Thiago Tavares (155 lbs)
Chris Wilson (170 lbs) vs. John Howard (171 lbs)
Jake O’Brien (205 lbs) vs. Christian Wellisch (206 lbs)
Matt Arroyo (171 lbs) vs. Dan Cramer (171 lbs)

Fight Announcements: Baroni, Lil’ Nog & More

There were a few future bouts revealed over the weekend involving some pretty interesting participants. Let’s get right to them…

— Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker has revealed that he is attempting to match Phil Baroni and Duane Ludwig together for a welterweight showdown that would take place at a yet-to-be-announced event early next year in either Denver or Seattle. Baroni remains undefeated since moving to 170 lbs., winning a decision over Olaf Alfonso in his last bout. Ludwig has struggled as of late, splitting his last four bouts, albeit against much better competition. (Paul Daley, Takanori Gomi)

— Manny Gamburyan has told MMA Weekly that he has agreed to take on fellow lightweight Thiago Tavares at UFC 94 on January 31 in Las Vegas. Bout agreements have not yet been sent out, but paperwork is expected to be taken care of over the next few days. “He’s a phenomenal fighter,” Gamburyan said when asked about Tavares. “I’m really happy I’m fighting him. With a good victory, that’s going to put me on top for sure.”

— World Victory Road has officially announced that former PRIDE standout Antonio Rogerio Nogueira has signed with the organization and will go up against Moise Rimbon at Sengoku VI on November 1 in Japan. Nogueira last fought in Affliction’s debut show on July 19, stopping Edwin Dewees in the first round. Rimbon, a Europe Top Team product, submitted K-1 kickboxer Peter Graham with a rear naked choke at Sengoku IV in August.

MacDonald Falls on UFC 87 Undercard

Despite his best efforts to hang with the touted grappling skills of Demian Maia, Canadian veteran Jason MacDonald eventually succumbed to the Brazilian, tapping out to a rear naked choke late in the third round of what was arguably UFC 87’s most technical undercard bout Saturday night.

With dozens of grappling championships under his belt, Maia was expected to make quick work of MacDonald if he opted to hit the ground with him. However MacDonald surprised many, continually escaping various attempts throughout the first two rounds, even putting Maia in his own predicaments at certain points.

It only took Maia a minute or so to lock in an extremely deep triangle but MacDonald was able to keep his composure and fight his way out of the hold. Multiple rear naked choke attempts followed but MacDonald persevered, even catching Maia in a guillotine before the end of the first round.

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UFC 87: Seek and Destroy Live Results

We will be going live at 8:00 PM ET tonight with live results of UFC 87: Seek and Destroy, which will take place at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The show’s televised main card will air on pay-per-view and Yahoo! Sports starting at 10 PM ET.

The event will be headlined by Georges St. Pierre defending his UFC welterweight title against gritty top contender Jon Fitch, who will be challenging Royce Gracie’s age-old record for consecutive wins. Additional featured fights include Brock Lesnar vs. Heath Herring and Kenny Florian vs. Roger Huerta.

Be sure to leave comments throughout the night. Detailed live results are after the jump. 

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Previewing UFC 87: Seek and Destroy

Just two weekends after Anderson Silva destroyed James Irvin on cable television, the Ultimate Fighting Championship returns with it’s latest offering: UFC 87: Seek and Destroy, which is headlined by Georges St. Pierre defending his UFC welterweight title against gritty top contender Jon Fitch, who will be challenging Royce Gracie’s age-old record for consecutive wins.

The UFC didn’t come alone on it’s first trip to the state of Minnesota - hometown products Roger Huerta and Brock Lesnar have come to participate in the biggest fights of their respective careers. Huerta will challenge Kenny Florian for the assumed right to take on UFC lightweight champ B.J. Penn while Lesnar will look to bounce back from an embarrassing first defeat against experienced veteran Heath Herring.

Here’s a little breakdown of what you can expect and what you should watch for during tonight’s event. The televised main card will air on pay-per-view and Yahoo! Sports starting at 10 PM ET. MMA on Tap will have complete play-by-play coverage of the event starting at 8 PM ET, so be sure to check back here throughout the night.

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UFC 87: Seek and Destroy Weigh-In Results

The official weigh-in results for tomorrow night’s UFC 87: Seek and Destroy, which will take place at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, are below. The show’s televised main card will air on pay-per-view starting at 10 PM ET. All fighters successfully made weight.

Main Card:

Georges St. Pierre (170 lbs) vs. Jon Fitch (170 lbs lbs)
Heath Herring (250 lbs) vs. Brock Lesnar (265 lbs)
Kenny Florian (155 lbs) vs. Roger Huerta (155 lbs)
Jason MacDonald (185 lbs) vs. Demian Maia (185 lbs)
Rob Emerson (155 lbs) vs. Manny Gamburyan (155 lbs)

Preliminary Fights:
Cheick Kongo (235 lbs) vs. Dan Evensen (244 lbs)
Luke Cummo (167 lbs) vs. Tamdan McCrory (170 lbs)
Andre Gusmao (205 lbs) vs. Jon Jones (205 lbs)
Chris Wilson (170 lbs) vs. Steve Bruno (170 lbs)
Ben Saunders (170 lbs) vs. Ryan Thomas (170 lbs)

Florian Stops Lauzon in Denver

The ‘Battle of Boston’ went in Kenny Florian’s favor last night as he relentlessly pressured fellow Massachusetts native Joe Lauzon before ultimately stopping his foe with an onslaught of unanswered strikes during the latest edition of UFC Fight Night at the at the Broomfield Events Center in Denver, Colorado.

What originally was booked as a friendly matchup between two lightweight contenders slowly evolved into a heated exchange of pre-fight trash talking. The tension between the two was evident from the start of the fight as an intense staredown changed into a quick exchange of punches.

Lauzon quickly down Florian down in the first minute. An unorthodox attempt by Florian to use elbows from the bottom was foiled by referee Herb Dean after one of the blows cut the back of Lauzon’s head open. Florian then used solid submission defense to escape knee bar and heel hook attempts before eventually closing out the round delivering strikes from the top position.

Florian turned up the heat at the start of the second round. A swift body kick led to Florian scoring a takedown and transitioning to half-guard. The veteran of the inaugural season of “The Ultimate Fighter” then rained down unanswered punches and elbows on Lauzon for nearly two full minutes. Despite a good job of covering up and limiting damage, Dean decided that Lauzon had enough, moving Florian even closer to another shot at the lightweight title that was once in his reach.

“Joe’s a great competitor and I knew it was gonna be a tough fight,” Florian said after the bout. “That’s what I wanted.”

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