Manny Gamburyan vs John Franchi on tap for WEC 41

by James Iannotti on Mar 29, 2009 9:21 AM EDT

Manny Gamburyan (8-4), lightweight finalist from season five of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF), has officially decided to drop down in weight and join the WEC's featherweight class. His first match at 145 pounds will be against undefeated John Franchi (5-0) at WEC 41 on June 7 according to MMAmadness.

"The Pitbull" steamrolled through Noah Thomas, Matt Wiman and Joe Lauzon en route to a spot in the finals across Nate Diaz on TUF, but an injury to his shoulder cost him dearly in the championship fight. After six months on the sidelines rehabilitating the injury, Gamburyan jumped right back into the win column with back-to-back first round submission victories over Nate Mohr and Jeff Cox.

However, a twelve second knockout loss to Rob Emerson at UFC 87 and a unanimous decision loss to Thiago Tavares at UFC 94 brought the Armenian fighter back down to earth and more than likely prompted him to start weighing some other options, literally.

Things won't get much easier in the WEC though. The 145 pound class is perhaps the deepest division in the organization with world class fighters like Mike Brown, Urijah Faber, Jose Aldo, Leonard Garcia, Jens Pulver, Wagnney Fabiano and plenty of others including Manvel's first opponent on June 7, John Franchi.

Franchi is undefeated so far as a professional. He debuted for the WEC earlier this month at WEC 39 with a hard fought split decision win over a very difficult to beat Mike Budnik. Before that, he competed once on an IFL card, where he submitted Frank Latina in the first round.

At lightweight, Manny specialized in using his strength as an advantage to overpower his opponents into submissions or to put them in difficult positions. It's scary to think about what kind of monster he can be against guys ten pounds lighter, but Franchi is no pushover. This should be a good test for the Pitbull at the new weight.

WEC 41 will be headlined by a featherweight championship rematch between title holder Mike Thomas Brown and "The California Kid" Urijah Faber. The main card will air live on the Versus network on fight night.

For all the latest on WEC 41 click here.

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I would like to see about half the UFC lw division do this.

by JB on Mar 29, 2009 2:31 PM EDT reply actions

Yeah there are many young lightweights in the UFC that are really improving. Problem is that size will decrease their chances of beating top notch wrestlers who will just take them down at will, and the UFC lightweight didvision has just too many HUGE wrestlers at the top of the ladder.

I actually never once in my head thought manny needed to drop down a weight class. I didnt think that too many lightweights would dwarf him in size and height and thats the only reason that fighters should drop weight. If you are a skilled fighter who loses do to strength disadvantage then you should drop down. Size didnt seem to be the problem with Manny. To me, it looks like he just wants to face easier competition…which if true, is a bitch-move!

Dana needs to start encouraging some 155 lb’ers to drop weight and join the WEC. THe WEC is thin on top fighters. All they really have is Garcia, Brown, Faber, Pulver, Aldo…and many of these fighters have already faced each other.

by john on Mar 29, 2009 3:45 PM EDT up reply actions

There are plenty of good FW contenders outside the UFC who are better fighters than most of these LWs in the UFC. Instead of putting in the small guys who can’t compete at LW, they should get the established guys there coz you never know – maybe those ufc guys are just not that great. But then again smaller guys fight at 155 coz it pays more. People only fight in the lower division if they believe they have what it takes to be world champs since money will come with the belt and let’s face it there are plenty of fighters who know what their positions in the promotions are. So really, increasing fighter pay in these lower weight classes is the way to step up the competition level.

by NameNotRequired on Mar 29, 2009 6:03 PM EDT up reply actions

good post NNR…I cant disagree

by john on Mar 30, 2009 8:48 AM EDT up reply actions

It’s just too much of a pay cut for most guys to do it. Fighters in the WEC don’t make a whole lot of money. Miguel Torres even talked about moving to 155 for better pay days. Financially it doesn’t make a lot of sence for most UFC lightweights to drop.

by DB on Mar 29, 2009 8:44 PM EDT up reply actions

manny will do big things in the wec

by tay on Mar 29, 2009 7:11 PM EDT reply actions

Yup the guys can get a bit cocky

by Hispanic Panic on Mar 29, 2009 7:55 PM EDT reply actions

If more UFC Lightweights did this then the chances of them expanding and adding a Featherweight division would increase. With enough big names at 145 the UFC could put on some big fights, I think Frankie Edgar will be the next to go down if he loses to Sean Sherk.

by Oskarbravo on Mar 30, 2009 4:10 AM EDT reply actions