Manny Gamburyan

From CageWiki

1 Profile
2 Early Career
3 The Ultimate Fighter
4 UFC
5 WEC
6 Mixed martial arts record
7 Gallery
8 External links

Profile

Manny "The Pitbull" Gamburyan (born May 8, 1981) is an Armenian American professional mixed martial artist and was the runner-up on The Ultimate Fighter Season 5.

He stands 5 ft. 5 in. (165 cm) tall and fights in the featherweight division (145 lbs.).

Gamburyan is a UFC veteran and currently fights as a featherweight for World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC).

He is the older cousin of UFC competitor, Karo Parisyan.

Early Career

Manny Gamburyan made his professional mixed martial arts debut as part of a one night four man tournament held by the Kage Kombat organization on February 1, 1999. He defeated Danny Henderson in his debut via armbar in 17 seconds and then submitted Timothy Morris via guillotine choke in 16 seconds to take the tournament.

Two months later, Manny submitted Darren Bryant with a heel hook at Kage Kombat 12. Following that victory, Gamburyan didn't fight for nearly two years. He returned at Reality Submission Fighting 2, defeating Pat Benson via guillotine choke in round 1.

In March of 2001, Gamburyan suffered the first professional loss of his career when he was on the losing end of a unanimous decision to future UFC lightweight champion, Sean Sherk.

After having another extended break (nearly two and a half years), Gamburyan faced Jorge Santiago at a King of the Cage event. He defeated Santiago via knockout at just 21 seconds of round 1.

A little under five months later, in January of 2004, Gamburyan picked up his sixth professional victory with a unanimous decision win over future TUF 2 contestant Sam Morgan.

The Ultimate Fighter

Even though he had not fought since 2004, Gamburyan was selected as one of 16 lightweight competitors for The Ultimate Fighter Season 5 in early 2007.

He was the fifth lightweight chosen by Jens Pulver and was chosen to face off against Noah Thomas on episode 2. Gamburyan dropped Thomas with a punch quickly before locking on a kimura which forced the tap early in the first round.

In the quarter finals, Gamburyan faced Matt Wiman. Considered the underdog for one of many times on the show, Gamburyan controlled the fight and picked up a unanimous decision victory to move him into the semi-finals.

In episode 11, Gamburyan was matched up against Joe Lauzon. Once again, Manny was the heavy underdog but rode out a unanimous decision over Lauzon to earn a spot in the finale.

At The Ultimate Fighter 5 Finale, Gamburyan faced off against former WEC lightweight title challenger, Nate Diaz for the six figure contract. Gamburyan controlled the first round as he shot in for a takedown in round 2, his shoulder popped and he had to tap from the pain, giving Diaz the victory.

UFC

Gamburyan returned from the shoulder injury on the undercard of UFC 79. He faced Nate Mohr who he submitted quickly with an achilles lock at 1:31 of round 1.

Four months later, Gamburyan squared off against Jeff Cox on the undercard of UFC Fight Night 13. After faking a touch of gloves and throwing a dirty spinning back kick, Gamburyan went on to control the bout, eventually finishing Cox with a guillotine choke at 1:41 of round 1.

At UFC 87, Gamburyan was given main card duties in a bout against fellow TUF 5 contestant, Rob Emerson. The bout was a short one as Gamburyan's wide open striking style finally cost him as he was drilled by Emerson and knocked cold at just 12 seconds of the fight.

Gamburyan hoped to bounce back from the loss at UFC 94 against Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt, Thiago Tavares. Things did not pan out however as he dropped a close unanimous decision.

WEC

Following the consecutive defeats in the UFC to Emerson and Tavares, Gamburyan decided to drop down a weight class to the featherweight (145 lbs.) division. As the UFC does not hold such a weight class he was relocated to the UFC's sister promotion, the WEC.

Gamburyan will make his WEC debut at WEC 41 against John Franchi.