UFC Featherweight bout: Tyson Griffin vs. Manny Gamburyan
Odds: (+190 Gamburyan /-250 Griffin )
Betting Pick: Gamburyan
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In the third bout of the evening, Tyson Griffin will look to reverse a recent 3-fight losing streak by dropping down to 145 pounds, but Manny Gamburyan, who also dropped to 145 after poor results at Lightweight, is not going to make his Featherweight debut easy for him. Griffin, despite his losing streak, is a very solid wrestler with good hands, but Gamburyan has developed into a very complete fighter at his more natural weight, so this one should be very competitive.
Tyson Griffin’s UFC career got off to a very good start, but in recent matches his offense has seemed lacking and he has been unable to use his wrestling to impose his will on his opponents. A drop to 145 should do a lot to make his wrestling more effective, since he will no longer be giving up a size advantage to most of his opponents. His boxing is good but not super powerful, and he relies heavily on being able to take his opponents down and work from top position, which he is very good at.
Manny Gamburyan also suffered some poor results in UFC’s stacked Lightweight division, but dropping to Featherweight totally revitalized his career. Gamburyan is a great grappler, with unconvential submissions from every position, good judo throws from the clinch, solid wrestling, and good boxing with powerful punching. What makes him so effective is that he is very unorthodox and gets the job done in ways guys aren’t used to dealing with.
This is going to be a tough Featherweight debut for Griffin, in my opinion. On the feet, Manny is the more powerful of the two and probably has better technique at well. Griffin is the better pure wrestler, but Manny’s ability to work from the clinch and his more unorthodox judo style is going to throw Griffin off a bit. Add to that the fact that Manny is great at submissions, sweeps, and escapes from every position on the ground and I think Griffin, who isn’t known for finishing fights anyway, is going to let Manny stick around too long, which might prove a big problem. I think Manny will frustrate Griffin by neutralizing a lot of his wrestling and out-box him on the feet en route to a unanimous decision.
Prediction: Manny Gamburyan via Unanimous Decision.
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