Griffin came out with leg kicks in the first, which led to Manny responding with kicks of his own. Griffin pressed Gamburyan against the fence, but was taken down by a very nice foot sweep. He managed to take Griffin's back, who stood up and shucked him off. Both were looking for takedowns while the referee constantly badgered them for more action, but neither was successful before the end of the round.
The second round was mostly Griffin landing leg kicks and Manny looking to counter with either a takedown or jab. Griffin was more successful than Gamburyan was, despite landing two low blows over the course of the round. The third was more of the same, with Manny actually getting a couple of takedowns but he couldn't keep Griffin down. Griffin ended the round with a few knees and leg kicks, while sprawling out a few times to pretty Gamburyan takedowns.
Griffin was in a similar position to Joe Stevenson, dropping three fights in a row at lightweight (including a very controversial split-decision loss to Nik Lentz). This forced him to drop to featherweight, and he made his UFC debut there tonight (he has fought at 145 in the past outside the UFC). He is 7-5 overall in the UFC. Gamburyan was a finalist on The Ultimate Fighter 5, and dropped to 145 after a 2-3 stint in the UFC. His last fight before this one was for the WEC featherweight title, where he was defeated by champion Jose Aldo.
