Karo Parisyan

Karapet "Karo" Parisyan (Կարապետ Փարիզյան; born August 28, 1982) is an Armenian-American 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.

Parisyan was born in Yerevan, Armenian SSR (today Armenia).

His 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.

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.

In a book he published, however, Parisyan wrote that his father introduced him to judo to cure his laziness.

By age ten, Parisyan was training his Judo under both Chivichyan and Gene LeBell.

For more than thirteen years, Parisyan developed under the Hayastan Grappling System (aka Hayastan Wrestling), developed by Gokor Chivichyan and Gene LeBell, which blends elements of judo, sambo, catch wrestling, Greco-Roman wrestling and freestyle wrestling.

Parisyan made his UFC debut on September 23, 2003, beating Dave Strasser by kimura.

In his next fight, Parisyan fought Georges St-Pierre and lost via unanimous decision.

During the fight, Parisyan attempted two kimuras, however Parisyan failed to secure them as St-Pierre defended both attempts.

Parisyan became the first fighter to go the distance with St-Pierre.

He then went on to win the WEC welterweight title, defeating Shonie Carter.

He then returned to the UFC, where he won consecutive decision victories over Nick Diaz, Chris Lytle and Matt Serra.

Parisyan's next fight was to take place at UFC 56: Full Force, where he would challenge UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Hughes.

However, Parysian suffered a hamstring injury and was forced to pull out.

Joe Riggs took his place.

He next fought Nick Thompson at UFC 59 and won via submission (strikes) in the first round.

Parisyan then fought Diego Sanchez at UFC Fight Night 6.

He lost via unanimous decision.

Parisyan has six junior national titles to his credit and competed in the Olympic judo trials ahead of the 2004 games in Athens.

He wrote that going to the Olympics was his dream and that mixed martial arts was only an outlet for his boredom.

During the trials, he received a call from UFC management and was invited to compete.

He accepted because he needed money.

But after the fight against Dave Strasser, his ribs needed recovery and he decided to give up on the trials.

He lost his first fight to Sean Sherk by a controversial decision.

In an immediate rematch, Parisyan was unable to come out of his corner, and later explained he had been suffering from a stomach virus.

Parisyan continued to train at the Hayastan Academy under Gokor and Gene until late 2005.

The fight was chosen as the 2006 Fight of the Year by Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Following the loss to Sanchez, Parisyan won three consecutive victories over Drew Fickett, Josh Burkman and Ryo Chonan, all via unanimous decision.

Parisyan lost via TKO to Thiago Alves at UFC Fight Night 13 in the second round.

Alves showed good resistance against Parisyan's grappling offense and finished Parisyan with a knee from the clinch, followed by strikes.

Parisyan was scheduled to fight Yoshiyuki Yoshida at UFC 88: Breakthrough, but a back injury forced him to drop out of the fight right before the weigh-ins.

After recovering from his back injury, Parisyan returned at UFC 94 on January 31, 2009 in Las Vegas against Dong Hyun Kim.

Parisyan defeated Kim in a controversial split decision.

Following the fight, Parisyan tested positive for banned painkillers hydrocodone, hydromorphone and oxymorphone.

Parisyan has stated that he has a prescription for the medications due to a severe back / hamstring injury.

Parisyan was suspended pending a full hearing in mid-March.

In early 2012, Karo mentioned in an interview that he has returned to the Hayastan Academy.