After being away from Bellator since 2011, featherweight Georgi Karakhanyan will return to the promotion next Friday night when he meets Bubba Jenkins in the co-main event of Bellator 132.
Karakhanyan (23-4-1) participated in two Bellator featherweight tournaments and he was a semifinalist during season two and was eliminated in the opening round of the season four tournament.
The current Bellator featherweight champion Patricio Pitbull defeated Karakhanyan in the season four tournament and the was his last fight in the promotion.
Since that fight, he has gone 9-1 and became the inaugural World Series of Fighting featherweight champion. Following his defeat to Rick Glenn last year, he would end up being released by that promotion and he explained to TheMMAReport.com on Tuesday how he ended up back in Bellator.
“I was trying to stay busy with the World Series of Fighting and they could not find me any matchups so they gave me my release,” Karakhanyan said. “When I got my release, my manager Mike Kogan told me that Bellator was interested so I signed with them and here I am.”
Since he went 2-2 in Bellator, would it be safe to say that Karakhanyan has unfinished business? Short answer is yes but he is only worried about Bubba Jenkins right now.
“I fought there is 2010-2011 and I do have unfinished business there but right now all of my focus is on Bubba,” he said. “After that fight we will focus on the rest of the division but as of right now, I just focus on him.”
Karakhanyan is familiar with Jenkins as they trained together back in 2013 when he was preparing to face Team Alpha Male product Lance Palmer. He brought in Jenkins for the wrestling aspect and called him a great training partner. When breaking down Jenkins overall MMA skill set, Karakhanyan does see more than just a wrestler with Jenkins.
“I see more than a wrestler. He is very well rounded and he just fought a Brazilian dude and his wrestling jiu-jitsu looked good. I feel like he is very dangerous everywhere.”
Karakhanyan has been watching a lot of footage on Jenkins during this camp, including his wrestling matchups. He feels that he will be the toughest test of Jenkins career and he will be looking for the finish once the referee starts the fight.
“I would like to make him bleed before I finish him,” Karakhanyan said. “Hopefully I can cut him open or break his jaw before I go for the guillotine. Like I said, I like to fight. I can not wait for this fight. I am looking forward to fighting.”