thaFormula.com - So then you came back 2 years later and racked up wins against Antonio Mckee, Fernando Vasconcelos, Dave Strasser and then...

Karo "The Heat" Parisyan - And Jason "Mayhem" Miller which is not on the record either.

thaFormula.com - Break down that fight with Miller because I never got a chance to see that fight…

Karo "The Heat" Parisyan - I annihilated Jason. I love Jason, I had already trained with him before and he's a good buddy of mine, but it is what it is and I fought him with a 4-day notice. I fought him, I threw him, was on top of him, belted him and just threw him. Ground and pounded him, messed up his face. I remember I was on side control and I remember I heard somebody from his corner cussing. It was Tiki, Quinton, Oyama, and Tito. I remember I turned around and I flipped them off like "fuck you is this your boy?" and I started hitting him harder. Then after that was done, I took an arm bar and almost broke his arm. I'll tell you how bad it was, it was so bad that the doctor threw the towel in. So after him, they offered Antonio Mckee who was an unbelievable wrestler, an amazing wrestler. I beat Antonio and then they offered me the two-time Jiu Jitsu world champion Fernando Vasconcelos. This is a guy they were saying was bullet proof. So I beat Fernando. I cut him up but it went to a decision because he is unbelievably good and I beat him up pretty bad. After that I got a shot at the UFC.

thaFormula.com - So you came in and fought Dave Strasser in the UFC and you brought a style to the UFC that no one had ever seen before in that octagon...

Karo "The Heat" Parisyan - When I was walking out after the fight, they were yelling "are you a fucking ninja?" or "that was magic dude, you're a magician." I was like "you guys haven't seen shit yet, let me come back."

thaFormula.com - At that point and even today, why do you think that most fighters train against wrestling and Jiu Jitsu but forget about Judo?

Karo "The Heat" Parisyan - Well because I don't know if they can train against Judo because Judo is a very hard sport to do, I mean as far as incorporating it into mixed martial arts. Jiu Jitsu is easier because Jiu Jitsu is all on the ground and its all submissions. Jiu Jitsu is easier to do. Judo is very hard compared to Jiu Jitsu because obviously you need the Gi. I need to grip you to throw you and if I can't grip, then I can't throw and what I do is somehow (thanks god) I got that feel to throw somebody without a Gi. I guess that's the reason, people they go for the easy thing. Jiu Jitsu is easier then Judo and that's what they go for because Judo is hard.

thaFormula.com - So basically would you say it's almost impossible to train for somebody like yourself at this time?

Karo "The Heat" Parisyan - Well everybody says that thank god, and the thing is I have had so many years of Judo that I'm not just an average Judo guy. I was one of the best in the country and I won everything in the country. Nationals, Internationals, Pan Am Games, 7-time Junior National Champion, and Junior Olympic Champion. I've won a lot and I actually beat Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou in Judo and when I fought him he was 260lbs all muscle.

thaFormula.com - Yeah that's crazy man because that is a very big guy. So after you beat Strasser, you were brought back to the UFC to fight George St. Pierre. What did you know about St. Pierre at the time going into that fight?

Karo "The Heat" Parisyan - Well that's my problem. I guess I knew too much and that's why I didn't train for him. I saw that he had a very small MMA record. He was 5-0 and the best guy he had beaten was Thomas Denny and I was like "gimme a break." I said "ah dude whatever, this guy is nothing." I even saw footage of him and I said "he's just an average wrestler guy and he's pretty much nothing." So I trained 2 weeks for him and I cut 16 pounds in 2 days and there is actually a very long story behind that whole week that I was there, but I don't want to get into it because if I tell you, you will never believe it. But something very stupid happened to me just because of my stupid friend. But anyways, I wasn't really ready for that fight and come to think of it, I almost finished the fight 3 times in there. In the 3rd round I had his arm and I was almost breaking his arm and I had no strength to finish it and St. Pierre just beat me on just trying to hold me and trying to just get me tired because I was throwing 75 submissions on him every round and I just had no strength or energy to finish the moves off. I guess I paid for not training.

thaFormula.com - Looking back at the fight now, did you agree with the decision?

Karo "The Heat" Parisyan - Yeah, I mean he just pinned me. He pinned me on my back. I won the first round. I lost the second round and the third round was very close, but they gave it to him. So it was very close. That fight opened my eyes though because I was so stupid I couldn't believe it. I was doing pads with my cousin and he doesn't even know how to hold pads. I was doing that and I was like "my gosh what am I doing." After the fight I was like "this is horrible." After I came back bro, I came back hard. I beat Shonie Carter and I mauled Shonie Carter for the title.

thaFormula.com - Yeah, I remember you had a lot of throws on Shonie in that fight…

Karo "The Heat" Parisyan - Yeah and the funny thing was they were asking me, "what do you think about Shonie Carters Judo because he's known for Judo and he throws people himself." And I said "dude are you kidding me? I've been doing Judo all my life." I've been in international competitive Judo. He's thrown tomato cans in the cage. You think he actually stands a chance to throw me? He never took me down once, not even close. I threw him maybe seven times. I love Shonie, but he was outclassed because I think I was in better shape. But again I didn't really train for that fight that much either because I had a snapped groin muscle. I snapped my groin muscle and I couldn't do anything. But thank god it went good and I beat him pretty decisively.

thaFormula.com - What is it about Shonie that makes him so hard to submit because you were throwing a lot of submission attempts on him?

Karo "The Heat" Parisyan - Actually bro, it's not that hard to submit him. It was just that I did not commit to the submissions that much because I didn't wanna gas myself going for submissions. I was in need of a desperate win because I was coming off a loss to St. Pierre. So I said" if it comes easy, I will catch him." If I would have committed to submissions, I'm pretty sure I would have caught him, but I wasn't trying to lose energy on submissions.

thaFormula.com - So you beat Shonie., how did the Nick Diaz fight get brought to you next?

Karo "The Heat" Parisyan - Nick Diaz was at the fight when I fought Shonnie and he was watching me. I guess they had told him, "you are gonna get the winner between Shonie Carter and Karo Parisyan" and obviously thank god I won and I walked out with the title and I remember he was looking at me saying "congratulations." I said thanks, I walked off and next thing I know I'm supposed to be fighting Nick Diaz and it's confirmed. I go "what do you mean it's confirmed, they never told me about anything." So I talked to the UFC and they told me "yeah you're fighting Nick Diaz in UFC 49." I said "great" and so I fought Nick Diaz. One week before that fight, I got unbelievably drunk and smoked cigarettes a bunch because of a girl, but thank god it didn't kick my butt and I still came back and beat Diaz.

thaFormula.com - So did you even train for the Nick Diaz fight?

Karo "The Heat" Parisyan - Yeah, I trained for that fight. I traveled a lot but I trained.

thaFormula.com - What did you know about Diaz and what did you think of him?

Karo "The Heat" Parisyan - I knew he had just come off of a big win over Robbie Lawler and that's all I knew. But I didn't think anything of him. He looked very weak to me and his punches didn't look that strong. His submissions didn't look like anything so I just mauled him.

thaFormula.com - So after you fought him what did you think of his submissions and what did you think of him overall?

Karo "The Heat" Parisyan - Weak submissions and he has weak punches. I was surprised that he knocked out Robbie Lawler. Nick is a guy that will get you tired because he'll keep coming forward. You can hit him with hard punches, knees whatever and he will just keep coming forward and he will eventually try to break you mentally and gas you out. That's the kind of guy Nick Diaz is, he is a tough guy, he's a real tough guy. He has good technique but he is just not that strong physically. He's weak, but he has good technique.

thaFormula.com - So you beat Carter, Diaz and Lytle and up next after that came your fight with Matt Serra. Serra was known for his great Jiu Jitsu skills. What did you think of Serra going into that fight with him?

Karo "The Heat" Parisyan - I didn't care about his Jiu Jitsu. I mean obviously I respect every aspect of the fight because anything can happen, but as far as him having something for me, he had nothing. I knew he was a Jiu Jitsu guy and that was the only thing I was trying to watch out for. So I'm trying to watch out for his Jiu Jitsu and when the fight starts I get rocked with a right hand and then I grappled and I put him in this beautiful arm bar, rear naked choke, I passed his guard, got side control. I've never beaten anyone that bad in my life.

thaFormula.com - So you kept your streak going with the win over Serra followed by a win over Nick Thompson. You were now at 5 straight wins and up next was your fight against Diego Sanchez. At that point in your career, what did you think of the guys on The Ultimate Fighter TV show?

Karo "The Heat" Parisyan - It was whatever at that time. I didn't really respect them so I was like "whatever bring them on." So they brought me Diego Sanchez which was another guy that I didn't really think that much of. In that fight though I got poked in my eye so hard right off the bat. I almost quit the fight, you can ask referee John McCarthy, he was in the damn ring. When he poked me, his thumb went right below my eye up in the orbital almost touching my brain. It went pitch black and my contact flew out and I was sitting there thinking "should I fight because I can't see anything" and my orbital was fractured because he thumbed me. But I said "you know what, fuck it, I'm just gonna try to fight." Nobody would know how much pain I was in, nobody.

thaFormula.com - It did look like it took a lot out of you after it happened…

Karo "The Heat" Parisyan - It took a lot out of me bro. I couldn't see a damn thing. I didn't know what to do, I was frustrated. Right after that, I was like" fuck it," I stood up, shook him off. When I decided to fight at that moment, I stood up and took over the rest of the round. I won the first, I won the second and in the third is when I lost. Until this day, there is no fucking way I lost that fight. I annihilated Diego Sanchez.

thaFormula.com - Now I know you had missed your title shot before even going into the Diego fight. How upsetting was it to not only have lost to Diego, but to have lost in that way and lost your shot at another title fight and how were you feeling after that?

Karo "The Heat" Parisyan - I was unbelievably depressed, pissed, frustrated. I was feeling everything at the same time. I couldn't believe it. I cannot believe this actually happened to me. I can't believe this. But as much as you hate to say it, you have to go back to the drawing board, get back on the horse and start fighting. That's what you do. It was bad though, it was really bad.

thaFormula.com - But honestly Karo, what pissed you off more, was it losing the title fight or was it losing to Diego, because it seems like many fighters do not want to lose to that particular guy...

Karo "The Heat" Parisyan - Yeah, I think it was that I didn't wanna lose to Diego. First of all though, 80 percent of the people that came up to me after that fight, they have all said "Karo you won that fight" or "I thought you won that fight, you got robbed." Everybody said that and there is one fucking judge that should be shot. He's a fucking boxing judge and he judges the fight based on boxing and I can't stand that fucking asshole. I want him to get shot on his fucking kneecaps so he could never walk. That asshole always goes against me. When I fought Nick Diaz, he went for Diaz and not me just because Diaz was trying to throw more punches. I remember Dana called me up the next day and said "I hate that one judge, I'm trying to get him fired."

thaFormula.com - So basically the UFC can't ever pick the judges right?

Karo "The Heat" Parisyan - No. That one judge is hired by the commission. The commission has to give one of the judges. It's a boxing judge, not MMA.

thaFormula.com - Now why is it Karo that people just don't want to lose to Diego? What is it about him that bugs so many fighters?

Karo "The Heat" Parisyan - Because he is a weird fucking guy. He's weird, he's very cocky, he thinks he's the best and I don't know, there is just something weird about that guy. He doesn't really get under my skin at all, but he's still fucking retarded.

thaFormula.com - So you don't think that maybe you underestimated Diego a little Karo?

Karo "The Heat" Parisyan - I did underestimate him. But again, I remember him looking at my eyes like "fuck what am I gonna do with you?" Because I was throwing him everywhere bro. I was ground and pounding him, I was slamming him, that's what I did to him. I hurt him standing, I punched him, I kicked him, and I kneed him. I was throwing punches and he was back peddling all the way through the freaking cage. I would shoot for a double and pick him up like a Matt Hughes style slam. I mean how do you fucking lose that fight? How do you give that fight to Diego? I'll tell you this, I got the best highlight of the year with the fight against Diego. Me, not Diego, me. I got the best highlight of the UFC. It was the best fight of the year and the best highlight went to Karo Parisyan based off that fight.

thaFormula.com - Now you have been able to throw everyone you have fought without a problem except for Nick Diaz. Why were you not able to throw Nick like you were with all the other fighters?

Karo "The Heat" Parisyan - I wasn't going for throws with Diaz because right off the bat when he kneed me and I picked him up with a big slam, I said "I'm not gonna go for any throws on this guy, I'm not gonna waste my energy. I'm gonna take his legs out," because his legs were so weak. I was just shooting double legs on him and that's how I took him down.

thaFormula.com - How did it feel to you Karo to see someone like Serra who you beat, take the title like that from St. Pierre?

Karo "The Heat" Parisyan - I was very surprised. If he had any chance to beat St. Pierre, it was on the ground and not by a knockout. That just goes to show you what can happen in Mixed Martial Arts. That's the crazy thing about MMA and it made me feel good obviously, and it made me look good. I can't fucking believe they are giving Matt Hughes a title shot, when I should be getting a title shot. Hopefully if I beat Burkman I should be getting my title shot. But I don't know bro, whatever. I was kind of happy with that, but the UFC wasn't happy.

thaFormula.com - Now looking at Serra now and the Serra you fought, do you see any differences in the Serra of today?

Karo "The Heat" Parisyan - No. He's still the same Serra. Still the same loopy punches. Nothing like "whoa how did he do that?" All the same things bro, there was nothing different. We didn't even get to see him that much because he finished the fight in the first round.

thaFormula.com - So now you are going up against Josh Burkman, how is the training going and what do you know about Burkman?

Karo "The Heat" Parisyan - I just came from some hard training and tonight I've got a pretty hard grappling session to go to. The training is going pretty good and I'm trying to do magic on Burkman so we will see what happens. I have trained with Burkman very briefly up in Big Bear. I trained with him a little bit. He's nothing special. Good in everything, not great in anything, one of those guys. So I'm just trying to get rid of this fight and god willing when I win this fight we will see what is gonna happen bro.

thaFormula.com - Lastly, why did you leave Gokor's gym Karo?

Karo "The Heat" Parisyan - I just had a falling out with Gokor. Gokor doesn't know how to be a coach. I can't get anything going with Gokor. I had too many problems with him. I've always had problems with him. There is a lot of stuff I can say about Gokor but I just don't want to. I'm gonna keep my respect and I'm not gonna say stuff so let's just say we had a falling out and it didn't work out. There is nothing I did wrong so he can think about what he did wrong, but there was nothing that I did wrong. I tried to be good to Gokor, I tried my best but no, you do not step on my foot. You step on my foot, I'll step on your head and I don't care who anybody is. It just didn't happen. Gokor is not the type of guy I could do business with.

thaFormula.com - So other then the UFC, where can people catch you and are there any other things that you are working on?

Karo "The Heat" Parisyan - I teach at Legends in L.A. 5 days a week. I do my seminars and private lessons here and there. I do stunts and I do acting here and there so that's pretty much it bro.

thaFormula.com - Well good luck with your next fight and know that people really enjoy watching you fight.  I appreciate technique, which is why I enjoy your fights...

Karo "The Heat" Parisyan - Technique is expensive brother. Anybody can get strong in the gym, but technique is expensive.

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