I was anticipated a very back and forth welterweight battle this Saturday night at UFC 106 when Karo Parisyan was to take on Dustin Hazelett. That fight has been dropped off the card as UFC president Dana White broke the news via his Twitter account. Never one to mince words, White’s Tweet stated:
“Karo Parisyan has fucked over the UFC, the fans and his opponent again!!! He will not be fighting saturday or ever again in the UFC!!”
It’s rather odd and interesting that so much breaking news is being dispensed through a micro-blogging social networking site like Twitter, but aside from that little sidebar, I am sad to see this happen because Parisyan has been a very entertaining fighter and provided some classic moments in the UFC. From his dazzling debut with an astonishing submission via rolling kimura over Dave Strasser at UFC 44, to his thrilling bout against Diego Sanchez, Parisyan has often lived up to his moniker “The Heat” and brought some fire power to a bunch of his bouts. Being exiled from the UFC via Dana White means he will not be able to work his way back up the ladder to achieve the long-sought after title shot the Armenian-American pugilist has dreamed of for so long. White has been able to bury the hatchet with past foes including Jens Pulver, BJ Penn and the grand daddy of all nemesis’ for the prez–Tito Ortiz.
Nonetheless, this banishment seems to be due to the fact Parisyan pulled out so late and left the UFC, his opponent and the fans hanging. I’m sure we would have seen a very uninspired Parisyan had he fought Saturday night, but there is no good excuse in White’s viewpoint for him withdrawing at this juncture. White added via Twitter that Parisyan:
“Pulled out of the fight the day before weigh ins again with a laundry list of excuses!!! Let the press ask karo why! Let him explain.”
I’m curious about how Parisyan does explain himself. “The Heat” was once one of the most promising athletes in the UFC welterweight division, but it appears a plethora of personal and physical problems have extinguished some of the fire in the Armenian fighter.
Where he goes from here is unknown. Strikeforce is probably the most logical conclusion. The welterweight division in their organization is lacking–Jake Shields has jumped up a weight class to find opponents. A Shields/Parisyan bout would be a quite an entertaining one at 170. Strikeforce has a plethora of great fighters, including arguably the best fighter at heavyweight and the number one fighter of all-time on some MMA pundit’s lists–Fedor Emelianenko. But aside from being an organization that hosts some top level fighters, it is also a haven for those who have been expelled from the Ultimate Fighting Championship. As much as UFC president Dana White wants to extinguish all his competition, which is corporate America 101, doing so would be a tremendous detriment to fighters who are not on good terms with the UFC. It’s good to see an organization like Strikeforce around because without other top level organizations in MMA, Parisyan would have to be reduced to falling down the ladder and start fighting in some local promotion trying to build up future stars.
UFC president Dana White is back with his video blog.
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