Karen Darabedyan’s engineer father might not have quite imagined the scene when he first enrolled his then-4-year-old son in karate lessons in the family’s Armenian hometown.
About 16 years later, Darabedyan entered Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, Metro Manilla, Philippines, for his third professional mixed-martial-arts fight.
It was the same venue where Muhammad Ali met Joe Frazier in the 1975 Thrilla in Manilla heavyweight boxing bout, and the bout helped launch the career of the WEC newcomer, who debuts later this month at WEC 44.