Convicted Artist MMA correspondent Marcos Villegas had a chance to sit down with Manny “The Anvil” Gamburyan as he invited us to the Hayastan mma academy in North Hollywood, CA on the heels of his upcoming bout with Leonard Garcia at WEC 44 November 14th in Las Vegas, Nevada. Manny speaks on how and what he is working on in preparation for his match with Leonard Garcia as well as his prediction on the upcoming Rua/Machida fight and much more!
MV: Before we start I just want to say, man that was insane! You just finished your training session and you went for like a hour and ten minutes non stop and your not even tired man
Manny Gamburyan: Yea, I’m in pretty good shape right now
MV: So how’s the hand?
Manny Gamburyan: The hand is doing great you know, I rehabbed it and went to the doctor. He told me to still get it checked to see if it wasn’t fractured or anything like that. I got cleared so I called the WEC and told them I was cleared and ready to go.
MV: Now everyone knows you are going to be fighting Leonard Garcia, which I think is going to be an awesome fight. You just go and go and go and come straight forward. He’s known as a brawler with good stand up; So how is your training camp coming together?
Manny Gamburyan: My training camp is going great, I got a lot of good training partners that are sparring exactly the way Leonard is. He’s a brawler, hes a good fighter and I’m not going to take anything away from him. It’s a good challenge for me and I’m going to do the best I can.
MV: So who have you been bringing in for your training camps and who have you been working with?
Manny Gamburyan: I’ve been working with a lot of people dude. Alot of people, though I’m not going to mention any names but I have really good guys; Training partners, sparring partners, jiu-jitsu partners, wrestling partners, all mimicking the way he fights. The way he throws wild punches, straight punches. He comes from a really good camp and I respect his camp and I respect his coach Greg Jackson. I’m going to be a hundred and ten percent and you have to be like that when you go up against Greg Jackson’s camp.
MV: So I know a majority of your wins come from submission, are you going to look to try and take the fight to the ground?
Manny Gamburyan: To be honest with you, for this fight I don’t really care. I’m ready to brawl with him, let my hands go and see what happens. If he waits, I’m going to attack, if he attacks I’m going to knock him out. Obviously his game plan is to not go to the ground with me because I think I have a advantage over him as well as in wrestling. Stand up wise, if I connect I connect and he goes to sleep.
MV: So what holes in Garcia’s game are you looking to attack?
Manny Gamburyan: You know I’m going to go out there, engage in the middle and just go from there. Whatever happens, happens. If I have to throw my hands I’ll throw my hands and kicks and I’ll take him down. I have the advantage in the majority of categories. If you look at it on paper I just about have the advantage everywhere. So I’m looking forward to having a good fight
MV: I have a feeling it’s going to be fight of the night
Manny Gamburyan: I hope so too
MV: So how many days out of the week are you training now?
Manny Gamburyan: About six days a week and three to four hours a day
MV: Now If you get past Leonard Garcia, are you looking for a title shot?
Manny Gamburyan: Whatever the WEC wants me to do, if they want me to take on the winner of Jose Aldo/Mike Brown, I’m ready to take the challenge bro. I’m not trying to look past Leonard though. I’m prepared for Leonard and then after that, who ever comes up.
MV: Between those two, who would you rather fight, Aldo or Brown?
Manny Gamburyan: They are both good, Jose Aldo is a good striker, good jiu-jitsu and Brown is the champion and you cant take anything away from him. He beat Urijah Faber two times in a row and he’s a great champion. I have a lot of respect for him.
MV: So you made the drop to 145 and the switch to the WEC how is that?
Manny Gamburyan: To tell you the truth I wasn’t having a hard time in the UFC just the one hundred and fifty five pounders are just way to big for me. They walk around 185-190 and I walk around 160-161 so I have no advantage. The day of a fight the most I weigh is 160-161, like in my last fight in the UFC with Thiago Tavares. I weighed 160, he probably outweighed me by 25 pounds. I realized it’s not my weight class…I can fight the lightweights and challenge anyone they throw at me but 145 is just a better weight class for me. I get to have a height advantage, weight advantage and strength advantage
MV: I would say speed advantage also man, your fast
Manny Gamburyan: Yea and speed advantage also
MV: So I’m seeing a lot of Armenian fighters springing up everywhere in boxing and mma, and a lot are becoming really great fighters, what’s your take on this?
Manny Gamburyan: Oh, obviously we have a lot of talent not only here, but back in Armenia too. A lot of really good wrestlers, to lifting, everything. It’s coming along right now, fighters like Vic Darchinyan, Arthur Abraham…
MV: Yea, Abraham just knocked out Jermain Taylor in the boxing super six tournament
Manny Gamburyan: Yea exactly, we are coming along and we still have a couple more guys out there, like Karen Darabedyan who fights the same night as me and I don’t know if you heard but Razor Rob Mcullough’s opponent got injured and Karen got offered that fight
MV: Yea, Karen Darabedyan signed a four fight deal with the WEC
Manny Gamburyan: Yup, he’s a dangerous opponent and he has been my training partner for a long time now and he’s a bad motherfucker. It’s going to be a real hard time for Rob, and if he’s looking to just walk past him it’s going to be a long night for him.
MV: So who do you got Shogun or Machida?
Manny Gamburyan: Shogun is my favorite fighter of all time, I love him to death, he’s the complete package. Machida is on top of the game right now, he’s just too much. People think he is a karate guy, and he’s not a karate guy. He’s everything, jiu-jitsu, wrestling, striking, karate, you cant be one dimensional in this sport no more. You can’t just be all about striking and walk in there and expect to be the champion. No way. He’s everything dude, but its not going to be easy for him. I think Shogun will take him down and attempt a knee bar, that’s what I would predict for this fight. People are going to call me and say “Manny are you crazy,” but it can happen. If Shogun takes you down he might go for a knee bar or even a arm bar, so I think I’m going with Shogun in the second round.
MV: Alright now let me get a prediction on your fight? First, second or third?
Manny Gamburyan: Ummm, I’m pretty bad about giving predictions on my fights but I know I’m going to win by either submission or Knockout.
MV: Well thank you very much Manny, it was a pleasure.
Marcos Villegas
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