Manny Gamburyan Dropping to Featherweight, Headed to WEC

by Scott Haber on Feb 19, 2009 8:49 AM EST

Manny_gamburyan_prev_medium Promoted to the front page by Chris Nelson.

UFC lightweight Manvel "The Anvil" Gamburyan will be dropping to the 145-lb. featherweight division, and moving to the ranks of the WEC according to a new report from MMA Weekly:

"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)."

"There are a lot of good guys at 145 also," he said. "Mike Brown, Leonard Garcia, Urijah Faber, Jens Pulver. But I think my ability to drop to 145 – I’m going to be a lot stronger, and quicker. At 155, my technique is my advantage, because the day I’m fighting, I’m 160, 162. The guys are outweighing me by at least 20 pounds every fight, so I don’t think that’s fair."

Gamburyan (8-4, 2-3 UFC) was always undersized for a lightweight, but used his brute strength and dominating ground control to make it to the finals of the The Ultimate Fighter's 5th season, where he suffered an injury in the finale against Nate Diaz. Gamburyan reeled off two straight submission wins after that, but once he took a step up in competition, he was faced with back-to-back losses against Rob Emerson, and most recently, Thiago Tavares at UFC 94. The size disadvantage was particularly noticeable in the Tavares fight where the much larger Brazilian bullied Gamburyan around the cage for a unanimous decision victory.

Training with Gokor Chivichyan's Hayastan camp and cousin Karo Parisyan, Gamburyan will look to put his strong submission skills and freakish power to use in the stacked 145-lb ranks of the WEC. Current champ Mike Brown is set to defend his featherweight title against another former UFC lightweight in Leonard Garcia on March 1st, but no official debut date has been announced for Gamburyan yet.

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Good move

Good move IMO.

I’m not the biggest fan of his, and still think the top guys in 145 will dominate him.

by Michael Hatamoto on Feb 18, 2009 11:39 PM EST reply actions

Awesome. The WEC’s 145 division is gotten pretty damn stacked in the past couple of months.

"I see him beating Anderson Silva. I see him picking him apart. Him at a 131 years old...(trails off)." - Tito on Belfort at Affliction:DOR

by Rundownloser on Feb 18, 2009 11:49 PM EST reply actions

WEC continues to get more and more stacked lighter divisions as time goes on, I just read that former BW champ Eddie Wineland got re-signed and will fight at WEC 40.

by Raker on Feb 19, 2009 12:18 AM EST reply actions

Good move

Have I forgiven him for starting off fights with cheap shots?

A little since he’s sucked the past two fights, now it’s time to tap into the “potential” he showed.

I actually think this works out for him. Standing he’s less likely to be held on the outside and if his brute strength worked so well at 155, it’s going to do wonders at 145.

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by achengy on Feb 19, 2009 2:06 AM EST reply actions

This spells trouble for the other guys in the 145 division. He’ll be the biggest 145er and he is naturally strong as an ox.

Good move.

by cauliflower_ears on Feb 19, 2009 3:10 AM EST reply actions

yup, if he cuts properly, he'll give any 145'er tons of trouble.

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by Anton Tabuena on Feb 19, 2009 3:15 AM EST up reply actions

"I’m 160, 162. The guys are outweighing me by at least 20 pounds every fight"

Bullshit.

by JCS_FM on Feb 19, 2009 8:57 AM EST reply actions

I wouldn't call it Bullshit...

Tyson Griffin, for example, cuts down from 180lbs to make the 155 limit. Sherk goes around 185. Gleison Tibau is as big as his teammate Thiago Alves… and Alves is a monster at Welterweight.

by drightler on Feb 19, 2009 9:14 AM EST up reply actions

There’s no way that a Lightweight enters the ring at 180+ like he’s suggesting. I don’t buy it. A lot of these numbers get inflated.

In boxing, where they weigh guys on fight night, you’ll never see a gain like that. That’s deadly dehydration there.

by JCS_FM on Feb 19, 2009 10:22 AM EST up reply actions

Just basing it on what has been said. That 180 for Tyson was straight from the horse’s mouth. Just like anything else in life, a person’s genetics comes in to play. Some people are just more capable of the dehydration/rehydration process. I’ve heard GSP comment that the 170 weight cut is getting difficult for him, he’s 188 time of fight. Thiago Alves seems to make weight (with the exception of the Hughes fight), and he says that he’s in the 200-205lb range. Some guys struggle to cut 5 pounds.

by drightler on Feb 19, 2009 10:35 AM EST up reply actions

I can say a certain part of my anatomy is 12" on fight night.

Do you think that is true just because I said it?

by JCS_FM on Feb 19, 2009 10:45 AM EST up reply actions

I wouldn’t go as far as to call any of these fighters liars… say that to one of them and they might stretch your anatomy out to 12". :)

by drightler on Feb 19, 2009 11:46 AM EST up reply actions

Tibau is huge. Like, 190lbs or so regular walking weight. He’s a monster, and no one who sees him in real life can believe he makes lightweight. It’s perfectly possible and it does happen.

"I'm AJB and I endorse this nut-puncher."

by AJB on Feb 19, 2009 12:17 PM EST up reply actions

Sure

When hes not training, but he’s not entering the cage at 190.

by JCS_FM on Feb 19, 2009 12:47 PM EST up reply actions

Point being, if he rehydrates even half of the 40lbs he cuts, he’s 175lbs on fight night, which is still 10lbs – of lean muscle mass – heavier than a guy like Manny. ANd I get the feeling that he’s one of the genetic freaks who can drop and add weight very quickly (damn those guys), so he probably gets close to his natural weight.

"I'm AJB and I endorse this nut-puncher."

by AJB on Feb 19, 2009 2:50 PM EST up reply actions

Once Frank Edgar loses to Sean Sherk, I would love to see him move down too. That would only make the WEC Featherweight Division even more stacked.

by AlwaysRelaxing on Feb 19, 2009 9:35 AM EST reply actions

Good move for Manny.

Excited to see him take on some of those guys he listed.

Although detractors decry (MMA) as a brutal, bloody form of human cockfighting, aficionados know it is a brutal, bloody, totally fucking awesome form of human cockfighting. -The Onion

by The Kittitas Kid on Feb 19, 2009 10:59 AM EST reply actions