After losing a split decision to Nik Lentz in his last bout in the UFC Octagon, Tyson Griffin has derailed dreams of becoming king of the the 155 weight class and dropped to featherweight. The decision loss to Lentz infuriated Griffin, who was certain that he picked up the victory at UFC 123 in Detroit. Nonetheless, it counted as a loss on his record, and after 3 defeats in a row at lightweight, and the fact that the division is jam packed with contenders, makes the drop down to 145 a smart one. It’s one that Kenny Florian and Joe Stevenson have also made in search of another chance to wear UFC gold.

For Griffin he’ll instantly be thrown into the heap against the tough as nails Armenian-American veteran of The Ultimate Fighter 5, Manny Gamburyan. Whether it’s grappling, tossing fighters on their heads, or throwing bombs to KO opponents, Gamburyan brings a lot to the table. Especially passion and heart to the cage. It’s going to be an interesting matchup and many are curious to witness how Griffin will do in the new weight class. Both are well-rounded competitors, and while the question mark about how well Gamburyan’s striking is was there in the past, he knocked away those question marks are he knocked Mike Brown unconscious in their featherweight contest in April of 2010. A major accomplishment for Gamburyan to KO a former WEC featherweight champ, who held 2 victories over Urijah Faber.

Gamburyan versus Griffin will take place at UFC Live: Marquardt vs. Johnson which is scheduled to take place June 26, 2011, at Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Other bouts expected to take place in the Pennsylvania card are:

Main card

Nate Marquardt vs. Anthony Johnson
Cheick Kongo vs. Pat Barry
Martin Kampmann vs. John Howard
Matt Mitrione vs. Christian Morecraft

Prelimins

Joe Stevenson vs. Javier Vazquez
Joe Lauzon vs. Curt Warburton
Matt Brown vs. Rich Attonito
Nik Lentz vs. Charles Oliveira
Ricardo Lamas vs. Matt Grice
Michael Johnson vs. Edward Faaloloto