Karo Parisyan

MMAstatsbox
name=Karo Parisyan

---

nick=The Heat
height=height|ft=5|in=10
weight=convert|170|lb|kg st|abbr=on|lk=on
nationality=Armenian
birthdate=birth date and age|year=1982|month=8|day=28
died=
fightingfrom=North Hollywood, California
hometown=Yerevan, Armenia
fightteam=Jackson's Submission Fighting
fightstyle=Judo
wins=18
losses=5
draws=0
nocontest=
ko=0
submissions=9|

Karapet "Karo" Parisyan ( _hy. Կարո Փարիզյան; born August 28, 1982 in Yerevan, Armenia) is an Armenian American mixed martial artist. His fighting style is primarily Judo but has been modified to fight without the use of a judogi (sometimes called "no-gi" style). [cite web
url=http://www.blackbeltmag.com/archives/69
title=The New Face of Judo
last=hall
first=joe
publisher=Black Belt Magazine] Karo currently competes for the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

As of May 2008, he is ranked as the 10th best welterweight fighter in the world by MMAweekly.com. [cite web
url=http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/topten.asp?articleid=13&zoneid=15
title=- Welterweight Rankins - MMAWeekly -] His cousin, Manvel Gamburyan, is also a MMA fighter. Karo Parisyan currently trains under Greg Jackson in New Mexico, alongside Georges St. Pierre.

Biography

Karo's family migrated to America when he was six years old. Parisyan started training in Judo when he was nine years old under fellow Armenian Gokor Chivichyan.cite web
url=http://www.littlearmenia.com/html/spotlight/karo-parisyan/default.asp
title=Karo "The Heat" Parisyan
publisher=Little Armenia.com
accessdate=2008-04-16] Parisyan stated that his father began taking him to Judo lessons because he beat up on his sisters, and Judo would be an effective outlet for Parisyan to take out his anger." By age 10, Parisyan was training his Judo under both Chivichyan and "Judo" Gene LeBell. Parisyan later added Muay Thai training and managed to adapt his Judo skills to work in the absence of a judogi. He claims to be the first judo fighter to successfully do so for mixed martial arts.

Hayastan Grappling System

For more than thirteen years, Parisyan developed under the Hayastan Grappling System, a style blended by Gokor Chivichyan and "Judo" Gene LeBell, which includes adapted elements of Judo, Sambo,catch wrestling, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, shoot wrestling, freestyle, Greco-Roman wrestling, and Muay Thai. [cite web
url=http://hayastangrapplingchallenge.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=38&Itemid=36
title=Hayastan Grappling Challenge - Rules
publisher=Hayastan Grappling Challenge.com] Karo continued to train at the Hayastan Academy under Gokor and Gene until late 2005.

Judo

Karo is considered by many to be the first UFC fighter to have successfully adapted his Judo style to "no-gi" rules of the Octagon. He has six Junior National belts to his credit, and competed in the Olympic Judo trials ahead of the 2004 games in Athens.

MMA career

Parisyan competes as a welterweight and made his UFC debut on September 23, 2003, beating Dave Strasser by kimura. As a judoka, Parisyan would call it "ude garami". He was widely considered as the top contender for the welterweight title before a loss to Diego Sanchez.

His most recent fight was on April 2, 2008. Parisyan lost via TKO to Thiago Alves at UFC Fight Night 13 in the second round. In the Judo community it is considered that this loss is due to Alves being coached by Rhadi Ferguson, a Judo olympian.

Karo was scheduled to fight Yoshiyuki Yoshida at , but an injury forced him to drop out of the fight right before the weigh-ins.

MMA record

MMArecordbox
wins=18
losses=5
ko-wins=0
ko-losses=2
sub-wins=9
sub-losses=0
dec-wins=9
dec-losses=3

References and notes

See also

*List of male mixed martial artists

External links

* [http://www.karo-parisyan.com/ Karo Parisyan's Official Website]
* [http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=fighter.detail&pid=320 UFC profile]
* [http://www.legendsmma.com Legends Gym]
*Sherdog|id=5153|name=Karo Parisyan