Gamburyan-Diaz preview, UFC 72, IFL update

Every other week, SI.com's Todd Martin checks in with an MMA update.

High Stakes

In addition to Saturday's Manny Gamburyan-Nate Diaz fight, B.J. Penn and Jens Pulver (above) will square off in a rematch of their UFC 35 bout. Photo courtesy of UFC

On Saturday night, the Ultimate Fighting Championship will present the finals of its most recent Ultimate Fighter season. The final bout will pit Manny Gamburyan against Nate Diaz. The previous season finales have featured memorable bouts, and both Gamburyan and Diaz are looking to make an impression in their live UFC debuts.

Gamburyan was born in Armenia and moved to the United States at the age of 10. He has a distinguished judo background in national and international competition. At 15, he had his first MMA fight. He has trained with his cousin, UFC star Karo Parisyan, in judo and MMA for a decade and a half.

Nate Diaz also has a famous fighting family member. former UFC and Pride star Nick Diaz. Nate started training for MMA out of high school thanks to brother Nick. "He told me to come along to train and it became a routine out of my day," Nate says. They have trained with each other since.

Diaz and Gamburyan got along well on the show and trained together every day. Gamburyan says, "We both deserve to be in the finals. We paid our dues and won three fights." However, with the stakes high for their contest, both men have put friendship aside and are ready to fight. Gamburyan and Diaz have their reservations about their time training together. Gamburyan notes, "He knows what I am doing and I know what he is doing."

Diaz adds, "I think it benefits him more than me."

Adding interest to the fight is the rivalry between their families. Nick Diaz and Karo Parisyan fought once in the UFC. There is lingering animosity between Parisyan and the Diaz brothers over that fight .Nate feels that his brother won it: "[Karo] likes to talk about it like he did something good. He did a lot of running. He looked scared to me."

Nate, who had a confrontation with Parisyan on the Ultimate Fighter show, adds, "I just don't like the guy. He can kiss my [behind]."

Gamburyan has motivation of his own: UFC President Dana White's underestimation of his skills. "He didn't know I was a good fighter. He was underestimating me every fight. I'm going to be the underdog in every one of my fights and I'm going to win," Gamburyan says.

Gamburyan says that he is comfortable wherever the fight goes: "If it stays standing, I'll stand with him and try to knock him out. If it goes to the ground, I'm going to go for submissions." Diaz is unconvinced and suspects that Gamburyan will try to take the fight to the ground. Diaz has a reach advantage and is a better technical striker.

If the fight goes to the ground, both men have different opinions of how it will go. Gamburyan has relentless ground and pound skills, and also asserts that he is better in submissions. Diaz disagrees. "I don't think he has better submissions than me. When I trained with him, I did better than him, and I did better with the other guys. I saw other guys tapping him out and those guys weren't tapping me out." The submission game could be the key to the fight.

Also on Saturday's card: B.J. Penn and Jens Pulver will face off in a rematch of the main event of UFC 35. Pulver scored the upset victory in that fight, and Penn is looking for revenge.