If it were a veteran fighter, he likely would have pulled out of the fight, but Darabedyan was getting his break, and cut or not, even two cuts, could not stop him – despite the distinct possibility that they could end up stopping the fight.
These were two reasons to call off a fight, much less to lose it, though Darabedyan told no one. He asked me to do the same, to which I obliged, telling him it would make a great story when everyone found out after he fought and after he won — but I must admit I had my doubts.
Quite simply, two cuts were only more reason to stack the deck against the Jewel City fighter. There was little doubt his nerves would eat him alive — he was fighting for World Extreme Cagefighting, a big-time show, for the very first time, he was fighting in front of a live television audience that would end up averaging more than 400,000 viewers through the night — and, of course, he was up against a fighter in “Razor” Rob McCullough who was a veteran with knockout power that just happened to be the former WEC lightweight champion.
“I don’t know why, I just believe I’m gonna win,” Darabedyan told me and, even with all the doubts and odds, it was hard not to believe in him.
Excited and nervous all at the same time, the one thing, looking back now, that was noticeably absent was intimidation. Darabedyan was nervous about seizing the moment, about the opportunity before him, but he wasn’t nervous about getting knocked out or getting his butt handed to him.
It’s a difficult thing in this life to seize the moment, to grasp opportunity and begin the road to fulfilling your potential. Just 22 years old, Karen Darabedyan had a chance to do this in the middle of a desert under the bright lights of Las Vegas. In a city that makes and breaks you in an instant, he would have three rounds to shine or fade.
