Karo Parisyan (born August 28, 1982) is an Armenian-American former mixed martial artist, who last competed in the welterweight division.
A professional MMA competitor since 1999, Parisyan is a former WEC Welterweight Champion and has also competed for the UFC, Bellator, and Impact FC.
[1] In a book he published, however, Parisyan wrote that his father introduced him to judo to cure his laziness.
[4] Parisyan has six junior national titles to his credit and competed in the Olympic judo trials ahead of the 2004 games in Athens.
[8] He then returned to the UFC, where he won consecutive decision victories over Nick Diaz, Chris Lytle and Matt Serra.
[13] Following the loss to Sanchez, Parisyan won three consecutive victories over Drew Fickett, Josh Burkman and Ryo Chonan, all via unanimous decision.
[16] After recovering from his back injury, Parisyan returned at UFC 94 on January 31, 2009 in Las Vegas against Dong Hyun Kim.
"[24] Later that day, Neil Melanson, a longtime friend and training partner of Parisyan's, divulged to MMA news site Five Ounces Of Pain that Parisyan has been battling an addiction to painkillers dating back to an injury suffered while training for a fight.
[25] Parisyan entered into talks with Strikeforce, looking to continue his mixed martial arts career in the USA, but it proved unsuccessful.
[30] Karo fought highly touted Canadian prospect Ryan Ford on May 19, 2011 in the MMA Live 1 show in London, Ontario, Canada.
[31] He was able to neutralize Ford's strength and power by applying his takedowns, as it seemed that the first and second rounds were in favor of Parisyan, but was caught in the third round by a vicious knee to the head which resulted in a cut over Karo's left eye that would end the fight via TKO due to a doctor's stoppage.
After a long hard battle going the distance, Parisyan came up short, losing the fight by split decision.
[35] Parisyan was scheduled to fight Shamar Bailey in the main event of ShoFIGHT 20 in Springfield, Missouri for the vacant welterweight title on June 16, 2012.
However, Bailey was forced off the card due to an injury and replaced by fellow UFC veteran John Gunderson.
After being stunned by a knee from Gunderson, which resulted in a broken cheek bone, Parisyan was caught in a guillotine choke and lost the fight by submission.
"[37] Parisyan defeated Tiger Bonds via first round armbar on September 29, 2012 at a Gladiator Challenge event.
[41] Parisyan was expected to face Fight Master competitor Cristiano Souza at Bellator 106, but pulled out due to injury.