Griffin Nursing Knee Injury, Planning UFC Return at Featherweight

Tyson Griffin | Terry Goodlad/Sherdog.com

UFC lightweight staple Tyson Griffin will test the waters in a new division in 2011.

Griffin announced Saturday in a video posted on his official website that he will make the cut to 145 pounds when he returns to the Octagon later this year.

“I’ve been having some problems with my knee,” Griffin said. “I decided to get an MRI. They found some tears in my meniscus, so I decided to get that cleaned out. It’s going to be a few more weeks before I can put my knee to the test and make sure everything is good to go and commit to a fight.”

“Nobody wants to be back in the Octagon quicker than I do. I’ve got some big plans for 2011. Unfortunately, they are put on hold right now. Those plans are to move to 145 and make a run at that belt,” said Griffin.

Griffin has lost three straight contests, the first such stretch of his career. A five-time recipient of “Fight of the Night” honors, Griffin had won seven of his nine UFC bouts before dropping a split decision to Evan Dunham at UFC 115. The Xtreme Couture product was next knocked out for the first time in his career by the hard-hitting Takanori Gomi. Griffin’s most recent appearance in the cage resulted in a controversial split decision defeat to smothering wrestler Nik Lentz at UFC 123.

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Malegarie Completes 8-Man Bellator Featherweight Field

Hours after confirming Patricio “Pitbull” Freire as the seventh participant in its fourth-season featherweight tournament, Bellator Fighting Championships has finalized the field, officially adding the unbeaten Nazareno Malegarie (Pictured).

Vying with Freire and Malegarie for $100,000 and a shot at Bellator 145-pound champion Joe Warren will be Kenny Foster, Zac George, Eric Larkin, Georgi Karakhanyan, Wilson Reis and Daniel Straus. No matchups have been announced for the tournament’s opening round, nor has a start date for Season 4, which is set to air live on MTV2.

A 24-year-old black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Malegarie holds a perfect professional ledger of 19-0, including 12 submissions and five knockouts. “Naza” is an Argentinian national but resides in Florianopolis, Brazil, where he trains at UFC lightweight Thiago Tavares’ Ataque Duplo. Malegarie’s first fight for Bellator will also be his stateside debut, as he has competed almost exclusively in Brazil since debuting in 2007.

“I’m just very excited to finally have the chance to show fans in the United States what I’m capable of,” Malegarie said in a release. “Signing with Bellator was very important for me, and I’m ready to prove myself.”

The featherweight tournament is the second to be completed for Bellator’s fourth season, which is expected to host eight-man brackets at 145, 155, 170 and 205 pounds. The field at 170 consists of includes former champion Lyman Good, Season 2 runner-up Dan Hornbuckle, Steve Carl, Rick Hawn, Jay Hieron, Chris Lozano, Jim Wallhead and Brent Weedman. Sherdog.com learned last week that the welterweight tournament will launch at the Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino in Lemoore, Calif., on March 5.

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Bellator Featherweight Tourney to Feature Reis

Wilson Reis | Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com

The pool of featherweight competitors participating in Bellator Fighting Championships’ upcoming 145-pound tournament continues to grow, as the promotion on Friday announced that Brazilian Wilson Reis would join the field.

Reis is now the sixth official participant in the tournament, which will also feature the talents of Kenny Foster, Zac George, Eric Larkin, Georgi Karakhanyan and Daniel Straus. Announcements confirming the participation of Nazareno Malegarie and Patricio “Pitbull” Freire are expected to come soon.

A black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Reis has won four of his last five, with his only loss in that span coming to his aforementioned countryman Freire in the semifinals of Bellator's second-season featherweight tournament. Reis also competed in the promotion's first 145-pound bracket, falling to eventual champion Joe Soto, again in the semifinals.

“I came up short in the first two tournaments and this is my chance to make things right,” said Reis in the official release. “I absolutely believe that I can win it, and that's why I decided to get involved this time around. I'm going to give it all I have, take it one fight at a time, and in every fight, do my best.”

After beginning his career a perfect 5-0, the Brazilian became EliteXC’s first and only bantamweight champion when he defeated Abel Cullum in 2008. Most recently, Reis got his hand raised in October, outpointing WEC veteran Deividas Taurosevicius in a split decision at Bellator 33.

“I'm wiser in this sport right now than I've ever been before,” said Reis. “I've been training for four years now, so I'm really starting to understand every aspect of the game. The wrestling, the jiu-jitsu, the kickboxing and blending them all together. I'm better than I've ever been right now.”

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Karakhanyan Joins Bellator’s Season 4 Featherweight Draw

Bellator Fighting Championships on Thursday announced the inclusion of Georgi Karakhanyan in its forthcoming Season 4 featherweight tournament.

Karakhanyan (Pictured), a Season 2 semi-finalist, joins Eric Larkin, Kenny Foster and Zac George as confirmed participants in the eight-man draw, the winner of which will receive a title shot against reigning Bellator featherweight champion Joe Warren.

A Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt, Karakhanyan last appeared at Bellator 28 in September, when he earned a unanimous decision over World Extreme Cagefighting veteran Anthony Leone at the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts in New Orleans. The 25-year-old operates out of the Millennia Mixed Martial Arts Training Center in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., and has rattled off 10 wins in his past 11 outings. Karakhanyan’s lone setback in that span came in a controversial unanimous decision to Warren at Bellator 18.

“I need to take this tournament one fight at a time. I’m trying not to focus on Joe Warren right now. Whoever they put in front of me, that’s who I’m going to focus in on,” Karakhanyan said in a release. “I never underestimate anyone. There are going to be some really dangerous fighters in this tournament, so I’m just going to take things one fight at a time, focus on that person and then go from there.”

Born in Moscow to Armenian parents, Karakhanyan played professional soccer before his current incarnation as a mixed martial artist. He owns notable victories against EliteXC veteran Bao Quach and Affliction alum Albert Rios. His loss to Warren still stings.

“I hate losing. Losing to Joe Warren was a horrible feeling,” Karakhanyan said. “To be able to come back from that and beat three guys on my way to getting revenge against him would be an amazing feeling. That’s my main goal right now.”

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‘Tooth Fairy’ Foster Joins Bellator Featherweight Tourney

Kenny Foster (green trunks) | Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com

Featherweight Kenny Foster will take part in Bellator Fighting Championships’ upcoming 145-pound tournament, the promotion announced Wednesday.

Foster joins Eric Larkin and Zac George on the list of official participants for the Season 4 tournament field. Other featherweights rumored to compete include Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, Georgi Karakhanyan, Wilson Reis and Nazareno Malegarie.

An NCAA Division II All-American wrestler at Tennessee’s Carson-Newman College, Foster began his amateur career with no formal mixed martial arts training. The “Tooth Fairy” joined the New York-based Team Bombsquad when he turned pro and has worked his way up by fighting in local shows. Foster made his Bellator debut in October, when he earned a unanimous decision over Lester Caslow at Bellator 33.

“If any of my opponents take me lightly, I think that’s great,” Foster said in a press release. “That’s their own fault. We’re all here for a reason, and you don’t just end up in one of these tournaments because you got lucky. You're there because you are one of the top guys in your division.”

Foster holds a mark of 8-2 and owns all but one of his career victories by stoppage. The featherweight has been finished twice in his career, once by knockout and once by submission. His most recent defeat came in June, when he was knocked out by Donny Walker. Prior to that misstep, the two-time Georgia state high school wrestling champion had won six straight bouts.

While still without an official start date, Bellator's fourth season will begin in March and is set to air on MTV2.

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