Mihran Harutyunyan walking to the mat for his Olympic finals match (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Mihran Harutyunyan, silver medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 2016 Rio Olympics for Armenia, is planning to enter mixed martial arts while maintaining his amateur wrestling career, according to media reports from Armenia.
Harutyunyan, 28, revealed his career plans by sharing an Instagram message from MMA agent Rizvan Magomedov: "I'd like to share some interesting news. The famous Greco-Roman wrestler Mihran Harutyunyan is beginning a new sports career in MMA. I have no doubts that he will achieve great heights in this sport. We already have cooperation agreements and we won't spare efforts to achieve success."
Harutyunyan's personal trainer, Samvel Gevorgyan, confirmed the news.
"Mihran received an offer for fighting in MMA, and he accepted it, but that does not mean he is going to leave wrestling," Gevorgyan told Mediamax Sport of Armenia.
In fact, Armen Press reported that Harutyunyan plans to wrestle at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
The same media outlet reported that Harutyunyan had shoulder surgery in Poland in late July, and has not participated in wrestling competition since last summer's Olympics.
Wrestling for Armenia, Harutyunyan earned a silver medal in Greco at 66 kilograms/145 pounds at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, losing to Davor Stefanek of Serbia in the finals. The year before, Harutyunyan won silver at the 2015 European Games in Baku. Years earlier, wrestling for Russia, Harutyunyan was a three-time silver medalist at the Golden Grand Prix-Ivan Poddubny event from 2009 through 2011.
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