Judo expert Gamburyan looks to stop Aldo’s rise

It took Jose Aldo eight seconds to knock out Cub Swanson and officially announce his presence as one of the best mixed martial arts fighters in the world.

Since that victory in June 2009, Aldo took the featherweight title from Mike Brown and then dominated longtime former champion Urijah Faber in his first defense of the belt.

With each impressive victory, the hype surrounding the 24-year-old Brazilian has grown.

Manny Gamburyan thinks the accolades are justified. He just wants to put them to an abrupt end.

"He’s the champion. He’s a phenom. He should get the talk and he should get the publicity," said Gamburyan, who will challenge Aldo for the belt in the main event of a World Extreme Cagefighting card near Denver tonight. "But I’m looking to go out there and finish it off."

Gamburyan, 29, is a former contestant on "The Ultimate Fighter" reality TV series. He appeared on his way to winning the Season 5 title when he injured his shoulder and was forced to tap out.

Still, he was awarded a Ultimate Fighting Championship contract and won two bouts as a lightweight. After consecutive losses, however, he was asked to drop down to featherweight and move to the WEC, which is owned by the UFC.

The move has proven to be a good one.

Gamburyan has won all three fights in the organization and now the former junior nationals judo champion will fight for his first world title in mixed martial arts.

"I was fighting for the Olympics. To be the judo world champion, the Olympic champion," he said. "I never achieved that goal, but here I am fighting for the WEC belt."

Born in Armenia, Gamburyan competed in judo from the time he moved to Southern California at age 10. He made the switch to MMA when he was 17 and says he has seen so much in his time in the sport, including participating in illegal fights in Mexico, that nothing can unnerve him in the cage.

Gamburyan thinks some of Aldo’s recent opponents have been mentally defeated before the fight has even begun. With his experience, he insists that won’t happen tonight.

"Everybody has a weakness. I’m not too worried about what he has. Let him worry about what I have," Gamburyan said. "It doesn’t matter who I’m fighting. I’m going to be focused. Let him bring his ‘A’ game, I’m going to bring my ‘A’ game and let’s put on a great show."

WEC 51, which airs live on Versus (Cable 38) at 6 p.m., also features Leonard Garcia and "The Korean Zombie" Chan Sung Jung in separate bouts. The featherweights became instant stars after a clash in April that almost certainly will be named the fight of the year. Garcia faces Las Vegas-trained Mark Hominick, and Jung meets George Roop.

Also, former longtime bantamweight champion Miguel Torres looks to get back on track after a two-fight losing streak when he takes on Charlie Valencia.

Another former champion, Jamie Varner, will try to settle a feud with Donald Cerrone. The lightweights have long disliked each other, a feeling that intensified when Varner defeated Cerrone by technical split decision in January 2009 after he could not continue following an unintentional illegal knee by Cerrone.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509.