Georgi Karakhanyan talks about changing countries, sports, and diets

Georgi Karakhanyan had already traveled the world in cleats before ever entering a cage.

Prior to lending his talents to King of the Cage, World Series of Fighting, and Bellator MMA, the Armenian submission artist honed his soccer chops in his native Russia and pursued a career in the sport - first in Spain, then across the pond in California.

Now a mixed martial artist of 10 years, "Insane" will look to extend his winning streak to three when he steps into the cage opposite fellow featherweight Emmanuel Sanchez at Bellator 170 in Los Angeles on Saturday. The 31-year-old is coming off back-to-back first-round finishes of Kirill Medvedovsky and Bubba Jenkins.

Karakhanyan spoke with theScore ahead of his meeting with Sanchez, shedding light on life before MMA, his proudest moment as a fighter, and how he went vegetarian:

What was it like growing up in Russia and transitioning to America?

A lot of ups and downs. It was tough growing up in Russia, because I was also playing soccer and I was in a camp for most of those years.

Lots of cold, lots of snow and when I actually moved to the States, it was pretty cool, but I had to get used to that. People are smiling here, in Russia hardly anyone is smiling because there's not much sun out, so everyone is lacking in vitamin D.

I remember when I came to the States, the first place I went was an IHOP and I was eating pancake after pancake. I was just destroying those pancakes (laughs). But it's been a really good experience.

When did you give up on your soccer career in favor of MMA?

I was playing here for the San Diego Sockers - a professional indoor team - and the team just fell apart. They ran out of money. So all the players went to different countries and I decided to go to Mexico. I was trying out for a team called Monarcas Morelia. I was going to sign with them, but they wanted me to have a different name, different passport so they didn't have to pay a special fee to FIFA, and I was behind on my high school credits, so I left that alone, came back to the States and got my high school diploma.

A friend of mine was doing jiu-jitsu, and I just tried it out a few times and fell in love with it. At first it wasn't fun because I was getting choked and tapped out every second, but six months later I'm fighting for King of the Cage in my debut. I'm walking out all scared, my adrenaline's real high (laughs), it was a good experience and I ended up winning the fight, but I didn't take MMA really seriously until my seventh pro fight.

You've talked about moving up to lightweight before. Is that still the plan in 2017?

Yes, I'm still thinking about going up to 155. As a fighter, as we get older, it's harder to cut weight, so I think it's a good decision on my end to move up, but if there's a good fight at 145 or a title shot, I would take it. We'll go from this fight, but I am looking to make my (1)55 debut this year, hopefully.

You've been critical of (Bellator featherweight) James Gallagher in the past. Does that matchup interest you?

That kid is still green. I watched his last fight. It's sad, watching him fight and jump in there trying to be like (Conor McGregor's) training partner. It's just really sad where this new generation of fighters is going.

I don't think they're going to give him to me, because I'll beat him on my worst day - even if I'm hungover - but I just feel like if he runs into someone like Bubba Jenkins, AJ McKee, he's going to get destroyed, so I think they're going to protect him, and good for him. But I think he's going to run into someone that's an OK fighter, that's going to just demolish him.

What do you consider the proudest moment of your MMA career?

Winning the belt in World Series of Fighting against Lance Palmer, who was undefeated and coming from a good camp. Or going to Japan and fighting (Hiroyuki) Takaya in the Saitama (Super) Arena in front of 34,000 people. That felt pretty good.

When and how did you turn vegetarian?

So my girlfriend - now my fiance - she's like "you need to watch this movie." I'd just gotten back from McDonald's, I'm eating a Big Mac, and it was a PETA video that showed all these animals going through all this suffering and I remember, I was going to put the Big Mac down, but I said "fuck it, let me just eat all this." I ate the whole Big Mac and I started the next day just to see how I'd feel.

I did it for two weeks and I kind of felt good eating all the greens, because back in the day I used to eat a lot of steak. I would destroy steak. So I tried that, I liked the way I felt, and I went vegan for about six months and said "I can't do this." I've been a vegetarian for six or seven years, and recently I started adding fish to it.

Any foods you particularly miss?

Big Mac. McDonald's, In-N-Out Burger (laughs).