LAS VEGAS – Edmen Shahbazyan has a lofty goal following his impressive victory over Charles Byrd at UFC 235.
At 21, Shahbazyan (9-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) is among the top middleweight prospects on the UFC roster. He showed why with a 38-second knockout of Byrd (10-6 MMA, 1-2 UFC) on Saturday’s preliminary card, which took place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
With an undefeated record and plenty of potential, Shahbazyan said that he plans to take his career slow and is “not going to rush it” when it comes to moving up the ranks too quickly. In the very next sentence, though, he revealed that no rush actually means by age 23.
“Of course I’m 21 years old, but I do want to be the youngest champion,” Shahbazyan told reporters, including MMAjunkie, post-fight at UFC 235. “That’s my goal, to beat Jon Jones. He’s an amazing fighter, but I want to beat that record of being the youngest champion.”
On top of his fighting skills, Shahbazyan stands out among the bunch because of the people around him. He’s coached by Edmond Tarverdyan, who trained former longtime UFC champ Ronda Rousey. Shahbazyan is also managed by Rousey’s company, and he said he heard from the current WWE champion after his win.
“I got a text from Ronda congratulating me on the fight,” Shahbazyan said. “I would say (we talk) probably like once a month we’ll probably text each other or Edmond will call and we’ll FaceTime. She’s busy all the time.”
Shahbazyan also gave somewhat of a shoutout to Rousey’s husband with his win. He used the vicious standing elbows from against the cage to finish Byrd, a technique largely made famous by UFC heavyweight Travis Browne.
“Travis has trained with us before and definitely watching his fights, seeing him doing that in training, seeing him doing that in fights,” Shahbazyan said. “I took it out of his work and used it in this fights.”
For complete coverage of UFC 235, check out the UFC Events section of the site.
