It's been almost four years since Georgi Karakhanyan became World Series Of Fighting Champion, but after two and a half of those years in Bellator, the 30-plus fight veteran is ready to right the ship.
Karakhanyan has two signature wins over highly touted Bubba Jenkins in quick fashion, but has struggled against other top names in the division. In an interview last year with Fightful.com, Karakhanyan told us he wanted to "kill" opponent Bubba Jenkins. He would win in under a minute, and didn't back down from those words when we spoke to him recently.
"I was coming off of a two fight losing streak and it was the last fight on my contract. There was a lof of pressure. I didn't make weight, the only time in my career I didn't make weight. I'm so good at putting shit behind my back. I woke up and said 'I'm going to kill someone today.' It's the fight game, someone has to die and someone has to lose," said Georgi.
As mentioned, the win was a needed one. Karakhanyan had struggled since tearing his ACL in June 2015. The injury cost him a title shot, and his performance slowed over the following year.
"I was disappointed. I didn't want to let the fans know I was badly injured. I went through the promo and they could see I was limping real bad. Then I went to see a doctor and told me it was fully torn. It was not a good time," Karakhanyan told us.
The former WSOF champion walked away from the company to start anew with Bellator a few years ago.
"Ray Sefo, the staff members were really good. We couldn't keep me busy. The opportunity was there with Bellator. (WSOF) granted me my release. It was a good opportunity to get a good payday," he said.
Karakhanyan will look to take on the surging Daniel Pineda at Bellator 182. Pineda has won four of his last five fights, only dropping a split decision to Emmanuel Sanchez. Fightful will have full coverage of the event.
