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Karo (Parisyan) hopes better training will make for easier time in UFC 88 |
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Written by Neil Davidson, THE CANADIAN PRESS
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Monday, 01 September 2008 |
Karo Parisyan (right) absorbs a punch in a UFC loss to Thiago Alves on April 2, 2008 in Bloomfield, Colo.THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-UFC-Josh Hedges.
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While Karo (The Heat) Parisyan has won eight of his last 10 fights, life has been complicated of late.
The mixed martial welterweight has suffered from panic attacks, burnout and other complications outside the cage. He has had chronic problems getting his training right. And his last outing, a TKO loss to 170-pound contender Thiago Alves, prompted him to question whether he should continue fighting.
Parisyan, 26, elected to keep going and the first test of his new resolve comes Saturday night in the form of Japan's Yoshiyuki Yoshida at UFC 88 in Atlanta.
Parisyan, like Yoshida a judo black belt, has perhaps been the victim of his own skills. In a sport that demands long hours and dedication because of the number of disciplines it embraces, Parisyan has perhaps relied more on innate talent than sweat in the gym. It has carried him a long way but not always when it counted.
"Basically all my life, I've never really trained for a fight to beat my opponent," Parisyan acknowledges. "I've always trained to cut weight and eventually it catches up with you. So now I've been trying to concentrate more on training. . . . A lot of the fights I've won, it's been more than conditioning, (it's been) heart. I've shown a lot of heart in my fights where I've been exhausted but I've kept on fighting."
At UFC 53 in June 2005, for example, he was rocked 12 seconds into his fight with Matt Serra but rallied to take control and win a convincing decision. Against Drew Fickett in December 2006, he sustained a nasty cut on the cheek courtesy of an elbow. The blood just woke him up. Parisyan responded by cutting Fickett himself and went on to win a decision. He still has the scar to show for the 20 stitches that followed.
The fight before Fickett, Parisyan had a tooth fly out of his month after absorbing a knee in a loss via decision to Diego (The Nightmare) Sanchez. Captured on film, it remains one of the more grisly highlights of the UFC.
Parisyan believes he wasn't given the chance to show his heart or durability in the loss to Alves in April. The bout was stopped 34 seconds into the second round after Parisyan was stunned by a knee to the head.
"I've been rocked from Matt Serra even worse," Parisyan said. "I've been hit many times in a fight and I've recovered. Because I've been in a fight game such a long time, you've got to let me recover a little bit. I'm not a newbie in the fight game.
"I got rocked, I fell down, I've got to tell you that. I caught a good knee but (was) nowhere close to being out. And I ate three punches on my shoulder, one on my neck, and my hands were up. To stop a fight, I've got to actually get rocked, got to eat a couple more punches on the face to kind of seal the deal. I thought it was a little too soon just because I thought I could still recover. I'm not saying I could have recovered and beaten him, I'm just saying it was maybe a little premature stoppage, you know. But it is what it is and I'm not going to complain about it."
Losing to Alves is nothing to be ashamed about, however. The powerful Brazilian went on to stop former champion Matt Hughes and extend his UFC win streak to six bouts. Alves' next fight could be for the title.
But the setback started Parisyan thinking.
"I was just really burned out from 12 years of fighting professional mixed martial arts at age 25. I just got tired of everything, man, cutting weight, and travelling and training, everything was going wrong. So when the fight was over, I was just like 'I'm just happy the fight is over, I'm done.' I was really really adamant.
"Basically I came back and I thought 'Should I keep doing this and fighting and trying to be the world champion or should I just quit and look to do school and teach (martial arts) again?"'
He opted to keep training and fighting.
"I've still got a lot more to prove in the UFC than what people have seen before," he said.
Parisyan (26-5) was slated to fight George Sotiropoulos in August but the Australian dropped off the UFC 87 card. Now it's time to tangle with the 34-year-old Yoshida (10-2) and Parisyan likes the matchup.
"I think so, because I think he's more judo than fighting. He doesn't have that much experience in the fight game, as much as I do. But at the same time, I think I'm a better MMA fighter than he is. But I still don't underestimate him at all and I'm expecting a war and hopefully I'll be on top, beating him up."
Parisyan says he was diagnosed with panic attacks some nine months ago. Conditioning is helping him in that fight, he says, since it means cutting weight is one less thing to worry about.
"I plan on going into Atlanta (at) 172 pounds," said Parisyan, who normally walks around at 195. "I plan on not cutting weight at all because that's a very, very big rock sitting on my shoulders."
Parisyan has also started work with the respected Greg Jackson camp.
Family is important to the Armenian-born fighter but Parisyan admits at times it makes things more complicated. And there have been other distractions. Prior to his UFC 78 win over Ryo Chonan, he acknowledged the complications of buying a home took its toll.
"I have five family members in my house, I take care of everybody. I have a big family and I have my dad taking care of all my financial stuff so I don't really follow that that much. But I'm the one that brings the income in at the moment.
"It's tapered down a little bit. I don't have to wake up in the morning, run 15 to 20 minutes on the treadmill and then run to the office to sign paperwork for the house. This time I can concentrate a little more on training. ... So this fight hopefully should go my way,. God willing and more concentration on training, basically."
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