Fighting in front of family and friends, Hollywood’s Manny Gamburyan ended his three-fight losing streak with an impressive unanimous-decision victory over Michihiro Omigwa on the undercard of UFC on Fox 4 at Staples Center on Saturday.
The judges scored the featherweight bout 29-28, 29-28, 30-27 for Gamburyan (14-8), who trains out of Hayastan MMA Academy in North Hollywood.
After a sluggish first round in which Omigawa (13-12-1) briefly floored Gamburyan with a left to the jaw, the action picked up in the second round. Two minutes in, Gamburyan took Omigwa down twice, only to have the Japanese judo expert pop right back up. Gamburyan managed to land a third takedown, get Omigawa’s back and lock in a leg triangle. After trying for a rear-naked choke, Gamburyan lost the ground control but caught Omigawa with a quick right hand.
The third round easily was the best round of the fight. Gamburyan started it with a tremendous head kick that rocked Omigawa. Crisp punches and two more head kicks kept Omigawa off guard. Another Gamburyan takedown was followed by Omigawa rising quickly to his feet and going for a guillotine choke. Gamburyan escaped, held on and hoisted Omigwa for a big slam with 1:22 left in the round.
After Omigawa got up, Gamburyan picked him up and slammed him again. Omigawa made one last attempt at a guillotine choke, but Gamburyan broke free and reset with 20 seconds left, with the crowd applauding the fighters for their efforts.
In the opening fight, flyweight John Moraga (11-1) made a stunning debut in the Octagon by knocking out Ulysses Gomez (9-3) at 3:46 of the first round.
British heavyweights Phil De Fries (9-1) and Oli Thompson (9-4) slogged through an uninspiring first round before De Fries started popping Thompson and finished it at 4:16 of the second round with a rear-nked choke.
