Training at
Main Event Gym &
Glendale Fighting Club
In Glendale
January 25, 2010
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Gegard Mousasi Training
at GFC - Hitting Mitts
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Fight News
HyeFighter
Georgi Karakhanyan
"I Like To Fight Alot"
When Bellator
Fighting Championships began releasing the
names of those who would populate their 2010
roster, eyebrows began to progressively
raise with each passing day's announced
signing. They raised considerably more when
the featherweight tournament was confirmed
to include one Georgi Karakhanyan.
“Georgi K.” is how he is endearingly
referred to by most. “Insane” is how he
fights and so it serves as a fitting
nickname for someone who has progressed so
much in such a compressed period of time. In
just over 3 years of professional fighting,
he has compiled an otherworldly 12-1 record
and has quickly become the subject of future
top 10, 145 pound discussions. He hasn't
trained for much longer than that either and
he didn't originally intend on dedicating
his future to the sport of MMA.
“I started getting into Brazilian jiu jitsu
in April of 2006. It was nothing serious,
nothing like 'oh I was going to become a
professional fighter' or 'I was going to be
in MMA.' It was basically just to see what
Brazilian jiu jitsu was all about,” said
Georgi when asked about his trek into MMA. 3
short years may indicate that he was a
natural at the Brazilian martial art, but it
was hard work and determination that yielded
the success story we see today.
“I started a [Brazilian jiu jitsu] class, I
was getting tapped too many times. I was
getting frustrated so I decided to get
better and just train more,” and then came
the call from King of thae Cage, “After
about 6 months of training, I got offered a
fight at King of the Cage and I just took
it. I won that fight by guillotine choke
which was the only submission I knew and I
was good at. After that fight I just made up
my mind. I kind of liked that feeling of
walking out, the adrenaline and all that,
the crowd, so I just decided to see how far
I could take it and now I'm here, fighting
for Bellator.”
Though Bellator seems to be a leap up in
exposure, it isn't quite a leap in
competition. Georgi's last victory was over
an established prospect himself in Albert
Rios, who a few short weeks ago took out UFC
veteran and Brazilian jiu jitsu specialist,
Alberto Crane. That fight was a giant notch
in his hopeful future Bellator featherweight
belt. His reaction was simple: he showed his
growth as a fighter.
“When I fought that fight, I didn't show
lots of my standup 'cause a lot of people
were telling me he's stronger than me, he's
going to outwrestle me, so I was just trying
to prove a point, that I could take him
down. Actually, when the fight started I was
just working on my takedown defense and he
couldn't take me down and I was just trying
to prove people wrong, from that fight. That
I could defend and I could take Albert Rios
down.”
He understands what that accomplishment
denotes and recognizes the talent level of
his former opponent, “He had a lot of hype
behind him because he fought in Affliction.
But now, me and Albert are friends. I was
actually at the fight last weekend, rooting
for him when he was fighting Alberto Crane
and he looked really good. That makes me
look good!” he reflected with a chuckle.
That inherent humility is further apparent
in his recollection of the one loss he has
sustained thus far in competition. The
Albert Rios fight was the culmination of the
after-effects from that loss at the hands of
Chris David.
“I'm really happy I lost 'cause I learned a
lot. I'm a really humble person, I like to
learn. I mean, I still have so much left to
learn, I'm going to learn throughout my
career so it was a good
experience...something that could not get
out of my head told me 'okay you need to
work on your wrestling' so now I've been
working a lot with Olympic caliber wrestlers
and division I wrestlers so it's good.”
What better way to shore up your weakness
than learning from someone who is among the
world's best? So he became a mainstay with a
southern California wrestling gym, “I train
with SK Golden Boys out of North Hollywood,
that's where I train my wrestling with
Martin Barberyan, that's the Olympic
wrestler, Andy Darmenjyan.”
In order to be well-rounded, the modern
mixed martial artist needs to focus on every
aspect, a fact well known to rising stars.
Georgi gets that multiple pronged approach
from Rancho Cucamonga's Millennia MMA gym.
And he couldn't be happier with the tutelage
he receives there.
“Training is good there. We have Romie Aram,
our MMA instructor and Brazilian jiu jitsu
instructor so we have lots of experience, he
really helps us a lot. And we have lots of
good quality guys, Manny Tapia, Charlie
Valencia and the current King of the Cage
champion Rick Legere so just training with
those guys is really good. It keeps you
really sharp and gets your game up there,”
but for that extra bit of assistance to
improve that game, “I also go to Glendale
Fight Club and Gold Coast in Burbank.”
Even when he's not fighting or training, he
has become obsessed with his chosen
profession. Said Georgi of those brief
periods when he is not training for a
specific opponent, “I teach a lot. I work
with the kids and I teach a lot of cardio
kickboxing classes. Other than that, I just
watch lots of fights. I like to learn from
professional fighters and professional
boxers, muay thai fighters. I just watch
lots of fights and just learn.”
When Bellator came calling, Georgi was
already committed to fight on January 24th
at Called Out MMA 2. Though that
organization seems to also be supplanting
itself into the big time, a television deal
was reached by Bellator and they weren't
thrilled with the idea of him risking his
record against another unknown prospect.
“You know I had like six fights not happen
and I was supposed to fight January 24th at
the Called Out against Vince Ortiz but I
didn't get the approval from Bellator 'cause
they though he was going to be tough.”
If Georgi had it his way, he would've fought
that fight anyways. Vince Ortiz was on a 7
fight winning streak at the time and he
viewed him as a solid test. He didn't like
being denied such a chance, “It was
frustrating because I'm a person that likes
to fight a lot...”
For someone who loves to fight, it is not an
easy pill to swallow when cancellations
occur. It will have been almost a year since
he last tasted competition, all through no
fault of his own. According to Georgi, Ortiz
was not the only opponent who lucked out,
“Basically, lots of fights didn't come
through [last year]. I had so many fights
lined up. Like Bao Quach broke his hand and
there's lots of them just, I don't know.
It's frustrating.”
Bao Quach was
also recently announced as a competitor in
the Bellator tournament and he has his
sights on eventually getting that bout with
Georgi, “I heard he said he's got unfinished
business so it's all good.” Not one to mince
words, Georgi opted not to comment on the
public call out, “I don't do lots of talking
about my opponent. I'm gonna train more then
I talk and so we'll see what happens when we
fight.”
This sort of banter between fighters and
hype-building exposure is new to the
Armenian-American. More exposure is on the
way and he isn't oblivious to what that
means. He seemed excited at the prospect of
the forthcoming national attention he will
get through the burgeoning promotion,
“Bellator is a really good organization to
fight for and they have a really good deal
with NBC, Telemundo, and it's going to be
live on Fox Sports. It's good exposure for
me, to show myself and it's a great feeling
to fight for a good organization right now.”
He truly believes he is ready for whatever
lies ahead, including all of the prospective
opponents, “The Bellator tournament is
stacked with a lot of good and tough
fighters so it doesn't matter to me who the
opponent is and I'm not going to call out
anyone. I'm just ready for any of those
guys.”
The winner of this tournament gets a crack
at the current Bellator champ, Joe Soto.
Georgi likes his chances. Said he of that
possible bout with Soto, “I think I match up
really good. I'm an unknown fighter, nobody
actually knows about me except my training
partners. He might underestimate me or
whatever but I think I match up really good.
My wrestling's really good, I think my
wrestling is a bit underestimated,” and
almost as if he expects to be the man with
that shot, he added, “Should be a good
fight.”
Although he may not realize it, a lot of
people are picking him to win that
tournament. When asked what he thought about
being the favorite, his combination of
humility and confidence shined yet again,
“You know...I'm going to keep my head clear.
I'm not going to go thinking 'oh I'm going
to win it' and start listening to all that
hype. Basically, to beat those guys, I just
need to focus, keep training hard, take it
one fight at a time and see how it goes. But
I can see myself doing pretty well.”
The advantage of being a relative unknown is
that underestimation comes with the
territory. Rios may have been surprised by
Georgi's amazing growth as a wrestler and
others may be surprised to learn that he has
come a long way in his striking. Boasting 8
wins by submission, he expects people to
overlook his striking ability, “Hopefully
they know what to expect in my submission
game but nobody knows my stand up game so
that's really good. Cuz I'm going to do lots
of standup in my Bellator fight.”
One of the brightest young stars in MMA is
also an obscure talent. That is a dangerous
foundation for a career and one that usually
results in a burst onto the scene of public
visibility. There is little doubt that this
kid shows an immeasurable amount of
potential and the perfect attitude to become
a champion one day. It is really only a
matter of time until he realizes the results
of what all his hard work in the last 4
years will bring him.
This introduction is but a speck on the
glass of what is to come. On April 8th, the
world will begin to know the name Georgi
Karakhanyan. A glimpse: his favorite cereal
is Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
Georgi would like to thank Original
Grappler, Nutri Shop out of Riverside,
California, and Clinch Gear.
