Q: After discussing the wide variety of titles you hold, how does your level of success and notoriety make you feel? Do you get more pleasure from working with other fighters, as opposed to when you were a fighter and training with some of the best in Thailand?

George with a young fan at an MMA show

A: As a fighter, I started training pretty late, at the age of 20. However, I set a goal for myself to win a Muay Thai championship in California, and did that in 3 years. I went around to Thailand and saw the business end of it. I met some important people down there, WBA super featherweight champion of the world, at the time, In fact, I helped him sign with an American promoter, came over to the United States, won, and defended his title. In fact, he was the only fighter from Thailand to come to America, defend his title and be successful. I want to see people succeed in their own career. So I take any steps necessary to help them become champions or whatever their goals may be. I go to the extent of getting in the cage and helping my fighters prepare for their fights, holding mitts, grappling, whatever it takes.

Q: You have such a jam packed schedule, yet it hasn’t stopped you from adding more to your plate. I understand you are a manager to longtime professional veterans, as well as up-and-coming fighters. Who are some of these fighters whose careers you look after?

George with Boxers Art Hovhannisyan and Gabriel Tolmajyan

A: I have managed the career of former WBA lightweight champion, Yodsanan Sor Nanthachai, for three of his world championship fights: one was in Japan and the second in the United States. For two and a half years now, I have managed UFC lightweight, Roman “The Emperor” Mitichyan’s career, who is fighting on April 29th. Artyom Hovhannisyan, Gabriel Tolmajyan, and Arthur Bernetsyan’s careers are also managed by me. I look out for their fights. I make sure I pick the right opponent and venue for them. I also promoted and helped Karen Darabedyan get his first fights going, when he fought for Called Out, before he went into contract with WEC.

Q: How did you get started with Called Out MMA and what made you decide to begin Lights Out Promotions?

George & Mike Beltran

A: Well, I’ve always been in touch with most local organizations that involved in MMA and boxing, including CXF (with Mike Rush as co-owner and promoter), Respect in the Cage, and other organizations that simply want to put on fights and fighters until they are recognized and called on by WEC, UFC or Strikeforce. Pretty much if anybody is in need of a fighter, I’m one of the people they go to. I’ve got a database of over 700-800 fighters and I am currently preparing the fight card for Called Out 3, which should take place sometime at the end of May.

My partner, Edmond Tarverdyan, president and owner of Glendale Fighting Club, and I, first started as fighters, then decided that we might as well promote our own shows. The first show we did was at the Hollywood Park Casino in May 2004. It was a co-promotion with Dennis Warner and InSyn Productions which was headlined by Edmond fight. We had a sell-out card, so in December we decided to do another one. Even though it was held three days before Christmas, we put five Armenian fighters on the card, (Edmond Tarverdyan, Shawn Yacoubian, Artak Karapetyan, Ando Janoyan, Tina Zakarian), and we sold the place out. Our Armenian Hyefighters are one of our main support groups. They all have Lights Out Promotions logos on their shorts. There is another company, MMA Pro Sports, that I am involved with right now doing really big things. I help them market their product. For example, they are the glove sponsors for Called Out MMA. I am also helping to bring up King of the West, which is an Armenian owned (Roman Kalanteryan, of Main Event Gym, in Glendale) promotional company, as a coordinator and matchmaker for their events. Their next event will be held on May 6th at the Circus in Hollywood and on our card will be three of our Armenian MMA fighters, Sevak Magakian, Haiko Zacoubian (a young, new Hyefighter), and Vacho Avagian. By the way, laugh out loud, I am also in charge of hiring the ring girls. Oh, also, we are having an event on April 23rd, when we will have seven Armenian fighters matched up in the cage, and part of the proceeds will be donated to help Armenia.

George during his fighting days

Q: What exactly do you look for in fighters and their opponents? Do you choose strictly by weight class, age, height, and fight record, or do you incorporate fighting styles, personality, and what people want to see?

A: In order to put on a show, you need to know how to set the tone. Every single event that I’ve promoted, was the matchmaker or event coordinator for, I knew that my first fight had to be two guys that stood up and beat the living daylights out of each other. You want to get the crowd up. When we have set the right tone at the start of the event, it has always finished a success. My job is to make sure that the audience comes back and watches our show again. Since I deal with the commission directly, I have to ensure things run smoothly.

Q: Finally to my favorite part: You are a cut man. What exactly do you do to a fighter inside the cage?

George attending to his "cut man" duties on Edmond Tarverdyan

A: Laughing, I put Vaseline on a fighter’s face and let them go to the fight. In between rounds, if a fighter has a small cut, the doctor doesn’t say much. The fighter comes, sits down, and I get in there. I take my medications, my Vaseline, and get to work. I have to stop the blood and make sure the cut doesn’t get any bigger so the doctor doesn’t come in and say, “I have to stop the fight.” If I don’t stop the cut, it goes to the cards, and the fighter loses by T.K.O. Knock on wood, fortunately, I have been able to stop every cut so far.

Fighters spend weeks, if not months, training with their camp. To many people’s surprise, matchmakers and promoters also spend weeks, if not months, setting up the logistics for the events to actually happen. There is so much more that goes into a fight than what the fans see when they are in attendance at an event. George Bastmajyan is one of those guys that runs around behind the scenes and makes sure all the details that define a shows success are addressed. Next time you are watching a well matched fight, you can thank George for having such a great eye in finding talent and always matching up fighters, pound for pound, to go up against each other in the cage or the ring.

Art Hovhannisyan stopped Hensley Stratchan in the fifth round of a scheduled six-round bout.

Hovhannisyan dropped Stratchan with a counter right hand to the head in the first round. Stratchan recovered and tried to fight back, but had no answer in fighting the more polished Hovhannisyan.

As the bout progressed, Hovhannisyan landed the harder punches, slowly breaking Stratchan down. Stratchan’s punch output dropped with each passing round as Hovhannisyan’s increased.

Things went further south for Stratchan as a cut opened over the right eye from a Hovanessian punch in the fourth round. Stratchan only threw one punch at a time and those were few and far between.

In the fifth round, Hovhannisyan went on the attack, landing more hard shots to the head and body. After Hovhannisyan landed a combination, Stratchan motioned to referee Jack Reiss that he was not able to continue, prompting Reiss to stop the fight at 1:45.

Hovhannisyan, from Glendale, CA by way of Yerevan, Armenia, improves to 11-0-1, 6 KOs. Stratchan, Nassau, Bahamas, drops to 5-7-1, 3 KOs.

Gabriel Tolmajyna

With his young boxing career having been characterized by technical boxing prowess, HyeFighter Gapo “The Ghost” Tolmajyan has seemingly added the attribute of power punching to his repertoire. The Glendale fighter was dominant in defeating veteran journeyman Anthony Martinez via fourth-round knockout in a scheduled four-round lightweight bout on Friday night at the Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula.

“Now he’s adjusting to the professional style of fighting,” said Tolmajyan’s trainer, Edmond Tarverdyan. “And now he’s got more con- fidence.” Tolmajyan caught Martinez with a devastating left uppercut to finish the fight at the 2:14 mark of the fourth round. Tolmajyan, who improved to 7-1 with his second career knockout, floored Martinez (21-34-3) in the third round, as well, doing the damage with a right hook. “He started sitting down on his punches,” said Tarverdyan of his prospect’s power surge. “From start to finish, it was a one-sided fight.”

While Martinez’ record is hardly impressive, Tolmajyan’s knockout was, as Martinez, who has been facing a steady stream of up-and-coming prospects, was not stopped in his previous six fights and only 10 of his losses have come via KO.

Tolmajyan’s original opponent dropped out of the fight and the Martinez bout came about roughly a week before Friday, according to Tarverdyan. Originally it was scheduled for six rounds, but the California State Athletic Commission changed it to four rounds due to the late notice of the bout. Tolmajyan was also scheduled to fight in January in Glendale, but an opponent never transpired, thus Tolmajyan’s win on Friday was his first bout since a June 12, 2009 majority decision victory in Glendale.

Tarverdyan said he was not concerned with the layoff, however. “We had a really tough training camp,” said the head of the Glendale Fighting Club. “He was ready.”

Tolmajyan had been sparring at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym, as well, leading into the bout.“Gabriel looked very good and very confident,” Tarverdyan said.

Tarverdyan sees a quick step up in competition on the agenda for the 23-year-old Tolmajyan, who has fought more than 300 amateur fights. “I want to put Gabriel up against guys with good records,” Tarverdyan said. “He could out box a lot of fighters. I’m confident that he’s a great boxer.”

HyeFighter Artur Bernetsyan, made his professional debut in Glendale, CA to the delight and support of the Armenian fans in attendance. Glendale Glory 2, was originally slated to have 2 other Lights Out Promotions managed fighters, Artyom Hovhannisyan and Gapo Tolmajyan, on the card, but issues with their opponents prevented their fights from taking place. The sold out event was the perfect setting for Artur’s debut under the guidance and training of Edmond Tarverdyan.

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Unbeaten HyeFighter Art Hovahannisyan is a boxer who can move and box. However, it is his most recent string of knockouts that has awed people in attendance. His most recent knockout was no different. Hovhannisyan, who took the bout on two days notice, knocked out Adrian Navarette in the first round of a scheduled six round bout before about 500 at the famed Commerce Casino in Commerce, CA. The bout headlined a “Battle of the Rising Stars” card, presented by All Star Boxing.

Originally, Navarette was supposed to face Cleotis Pendarvis, who was coming off a close eight round majority decision loss to Mauricio Herrera just two weeks ago. However, Pendarvis withdrew from the fight the day before the way because of personal family reasons.

Hovhannisyan stepped in as a replacement, winning four out of his last six bouts by knockout. His last fight was last month, where he stopped durable veteran Baudel Cardenas in the fifth round of a scheduled six round bout.

Navarette was coming off a stoppage victory in his last fight in August over hard-hitting Joel Ortega.

Hovhannisyan started the bout strong, taking the initiative and landing hard rights to the head of Navarette. Hovhannisyan also slipped in hooks to the head and body of Navarette.

Navarette tried to fight back, but did not have an answer for Hovhannisyan’s repeated offense.
Just when it looked as though Hovhannisyan was content to control the tempo and land, a left hook to the head dropped Navarette to the canvas. The impact of Navarette’s head hitting the canvas prompted referee Raul Caiz, Sr. to immediately stop the bout at 2:21.

Navarette lay motionless on the canvas, prompting commission officials to order the paramedics in the ring to tend to Navarette. After a few tense moments, Navarette began to move his arms and legs. He was eventually strapped onto the gurney and wheeled out of the venue, blinking his eyes and moving his fingers.

Hovhannisyan, from Glendale, CA by way of Yerevan, Armenia, improves to 10-0-1, 5 KO’s. Navarette, from Durango, Mexico, drops to 17-6-1, 10 KO’s. Boxrec.com lists Navarette with a record of 18-7-1, 14 KO’s entering Thursday night’s fight.

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