Manny Gamburyan on Tyson Griffin, ‘I Still Believe I Won the Fight’

Manny Gamburyan

Manny Gamburyan suffered his second loss in a row when he dropped a unanimous decision to Xtreme Couture standout Tyson Griffin at UFC on Versus 4 in Pittsburgh.

While Griffin emerged victorious, some observers felt that Gamburyan had done enough to get the victory after scoring several takedowns in the fight.

The 30-year-old was irate at the judges’ scoring of his fight and believes that he had fought a smart game plan, but was denied the win.

“To be honest with you, it’s one of the smartest fights I’ve ever fought in my life,” Gamburyan told MMAWeekly Radio.

“I stuck with the game plan. I had to move a lot and I had to take his power away.  He’s pretty powerful when you’re in close to him; I had to move a lot.  I had to work on my footwork, which I did, I took him down, and I controlled it.  The thing is, I don’t know how the judges looked at it. I guess leg kicks was the main thing.  But personally, I’m being really honest, I’m an honest guy, I’ll say if I lose, I lose, but I really believe that I won the fight fair and square.”

Gamburyan’s plan was to stifle Griffin with his movement, use his footwork to set up the takedown, and not let the Xtreme Couture fighter find his rhythm and work angles.

“The style of the guys he was fighting like Clay Guida, he fought Sean Sherk, all those guys, and they stand up with him and just exchange with him. This time I stuck with my game plan and moved around, work on my technique and work on my footwork.  I think he never got me in a good punch. I even rocked him once, I took him down, I got on top of him, and never rested on top and put him on his back.  All he did was kick my leg, and I don’t know how you win the game like that, but it’s all good. I’ll come back stronger; it’s not his fault. The referee and the judges really sucked this time.”

Now with the decision loss behind him, the Armenian will look to bounce back and not let his next fight make it to the judges.

“He wasn’t strong at all. I mean he was alright, he wasn’t feeling weak, but he wasn’t feeling tough.  He usually takes everyone down, but he couldn’t even take me down once.  I took him down a couple of times and in the third round I slammed him.  So, I really don’t know what the judges are looking at, maybe they were watching porn I guess instead of watching the fights.

“I hate leaving it in the hands of the judges, but every fight is not easy, it is what it is.  Tyson is a gamer.

“Everyone complains about how GSP doesn’t finish, but look at the guys he fights; he fights all those champions, all those warriors.  We’re fighting at the top level, Tyson Griffin is not a joke.  All of his fights go the distance, but I was trying to counter punch, I was trying to put him away, but it didn’t work.  I personally think I won the fight, a lot of people think I won the fight, too, and hopefully people realize I won the fight.

“I still believe I won the fight.”