Georgi Karakhanyan signs with Bellator Fighting Championships

photo credit: David Bauman / The Press-Enterprise
Riverside MMA fighter Georgi Karakhanyan will compete in the Bellator Fighting Championships Season 2 series beginning in April.


Riverside MMA Fighter Lands Spotlight in Bellator Series
By BREANNA ARMSTRONG
Special to The Press-Enterprise

January 12, 2010

Riverside's Mixed Martial Arts fighter, Georgi "Insane" Karakhanyan has been added to the Bellator Fighting Championships schedule for Season 2, which begins April 8.

"It felt great to sign with Bellator, it's a great organization. I just want everyone to know that there is a MMA fighter in Riverside that is doing good," said Karakhanyan, 24, who trains at United States Karate Organization in Riverside and Millennia MMA in Rancho Cucamonga.

Bellator (Latin for "warrior") Fighting Championships is a tournament-based series with eight competitors in four weight divisions conducted over 12 consecutive weeks. The series has plenty of television exposure, airing live weekly on Thursday nights on Fox Sports Net with a one-hour taped highlight show on Saturday nights on Telemundo, a Spanish-language network, and a 30-minute taped highlight show airing Saturday nights on NBC.

"Georgi is a proven winner," Bellator founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney is quoted as saying on the BFC website. "He brings an explosive style to the cage that makes for great fights. We are excited to welcome Georgi to Bellator."

Karakhanyan, who is currently teaching and training at USKO, brings a 12-1-1 record into the series.

"This will be a great opportunity for me to show my skills," he said.

Georgi Karakhanyan has a 12-1-1 record.
Said Betiss Mansouri, Millennia's head trainer: "We are confident that he has all the tools to win the entire tournament. We are also hoping that the last few fighters they add to the tournament are truly the best in this weight class the world has to offer, because, we believe Georgi is the best 145 pounder around at this point in time."

Joe Soto is the featherweight champion from Season 1. Karakhanyan would have to reach the final in order to fight Soto.

The Show Goes on for Javier "Showtime" Vazquez

Photo credit: Millenniamma.com

The Show Goes on for Javier “Showtime” Vazquez
By Breanna Armstrong

After defeating JC Pennington at ShoXC: “Elite Challenger Series” in October 2007, Javier “Showtime” Vazquez (13-2-0) announced his retirement claiming that he wanted to pursue his MMA career further as a coach.

Now, almost two years later, Vazquez is back and better than ever. “The more I coached, the more I ended up wanting to get back into it again.” said Vazquez.

On June 27, Vazquez clearly got right back into his fighting career, as he made his comeback at Ultimate Chaos, where he defeated Mark Kergosien with a guillotine choke just 19 seconds into the first round.

His nick name “Showtime” was given to him by his coach, UFC veteran, Romie Aram, because Aram said that every time Javier gets into the ring its “Showtime.” And this statement stands true as Vazquez has been noticed as one of the best technical MMA fighters in the world.

After wrestling at Mt. San Antonio College, Vazquez’s eye caught onto MMA and he started competing in tournaments, and started winning them, which resulted in his career. Betiss Mansouri, the owner of Millennia MMA gym, came along side of Vazquez and trained him to become the champion that he is today.

At the age of 33, Vazquez still stands as a tough competitor because “The older you get, you train smarter,” he says, “At 20, you can do whatever you want, but as you get older you have to taper your training. It has kept me wanting to keep training because I am not burned out. I’m happy, I’m in a better mood and I have the desire to train because I am not burning myself out.”

Vasquez has seen the rise of MMA and recalls a time when Millennia was one of the only gyms around the area. “The old gym started out as this large rectangular room and we put mats in it of course. After a while, practices started to get so big and we were running out of wall space so we thought of caging it off. It was really funny because we had an actual fencing company come out to cage it off. It wasn’t like the rubber cages today, it was an actual cage. And that was one of the best facilities around at the time. We called it the dungeon.”


Originally, Vazquez was one of the first owners of the Millennia gym, but he went on to start a gym of his own called “Showtime Jiu-Jitsu” as well as going back to his old college to teach Jui-Jitsu at Mt. SAC for five years.

Vazquez is now back at Millennia as a respected instructor. “As far as in the Inland Empire, I think that coaching wise, there is no one better than our gym, not even close. And even if someone has better athletes than us, if you give us those athletes we will turn them into super athletes.” said Vazquez.

“I want to compete at the elite level to just show how grateful I am for everyone who has watched my career and supported me from the beginning,” said Javier, “I just want to leave my mark on this sport. I think that I could get the opportunity to do that if I get in the WEC, that’s what I would like to do if the opportunity presents itself. Maybe I will.”

Just a month after this interview with Vazquez, right before his Ultimate Chaos victory, Javier “Showtime” Vazquez was signed to the WEC. It is looking like his mark is clearly being made on this sport and the show goes on.