Harut Grigorian

Harut Grigorian is one of many fighters of Armenian extraction who compete at the top level in combat sports. Other famous Armenian fighting names include Giorgio Petrosyan, Karo Parisyan and Manny Gamburyan.

Armenian history features a lot of wars. In the last century a large Armenian populace was displaced and scattered around the world to make a new start. Los Angeles, California hosts a large Armenian population and so too do Belgium and the Netherlands in Europe.

Grigorian is based in Belgium and for many years trained at the Bulldog Gym under female head coach Danielle Somers, an eight-time world champion. Nowadays he trains in the neighbouring Netherlands at Hemmers Gym, which was Somers' original gym.

Interestingly, both at Bulldog Gym and Hemmers Gym he counted lightweight contender Marat Grigorian among his training partners. This gave rise to a belief that they are brothers. In fact they are no relation at all, but they are good friends. Grigorian is simply a common surname in Armenia.

Harut Grigorian has a very particular style of fighting; some observers have described it as “do or die”. He goes all-out for the finish, throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the opponent, with defense an afterthought. For him, the stoppage is everything.

His pace is also relentless. He throws everything with full power and in high volume. Some fighters fight like fencers, searching for openings and darting in through gaps in defense. Harut Grigorian is the opposite; he uses his strikes like a baseball bat, smashing his way through defensive obstacles to bludgeons his opponents into submission.