Karo Parisyan

Sherdog has the details on how Karo Parisyan went from being on Dana White's blacklist to back in the UFC:

“Karo Parisyan has f---ed over the UFC, the fans and his opponent again!!!” tweeted White. “He will not be fighting Saturday or ever again in the UFC!!”

“Ever again” does not always last that long for White, a frequent advocate of second chances. Three months later, Parisyan received a call out of the blue from the UFC boss.

“How are you, kid?” White asked.

White and Parisyan spoke about what had happened and what led to Parisyan’s decision to withdraw from the Hazelett macth. Parisyan had a six-fight deal on the table from Strikeforce, but White recommended he only sign a three-fight deal with the San Jose, Calif.-based promotion. Parisyan told White he was not interested in signing with Strikeforce at all and would instead take one fight in Australia for Impact FC.

“I know Dana White,” Parisyan says. “Deep down he’s a nice guy. He’s a hothead; I’m a hothead. In the heat of the moment, you say stuff you later regret. I knew eventually I’d come back. You’ll never find a judo guy with throws like me. He told me everyone deserves a second chance: ‘Karo, I’ve always liked you.’”

But forgiving is not forgetting:

Parisyan also received a warning from White: “If you screw me again, Karo, I swear to God, never talk to me again.”

So long as Karo walks into the cage this weekend against Dennis Hallman, he won't be screwing Dana. But will he be screwing himself? Sergio Non over at USA Today mentioned our "Is Karo Parisyan Still A Mess" post when interviewing Karo, asking him if he's really got his shit together:

We all wanna know ... how's Karo? The answer: we don't know. On one side we have a (former?) close friend and training partner saying Karo has a painkiller addiction problem. On the other we have Karo saying his only problem was anxiety. Here's what he said on Inside MMA over the weekend when Kenny Rice asked him straight up if he had a problem:

I took two pain pills for my torn hamstring legally with a frickin paper ... a prescription. I had a problem, a torn hamstring when I was supposed to fight Matt Hughes. That never healed. I could open up my pants in front of the whole national television right now and show that dent behind my thigh. I took pain pills, I completely forgot about all this but it's legal I have a prescription for it.

This kinda glosses over the fact that the hamstring injury happened YEARS ago and those 'two pain pills' weren't his or even what he was prescribed but random pain pills offered up by a friend that morning (mmmm, mystery friendship pills).

And it's not like a prescription means there's no abuse or addiction going on. You don't have to be a Hollywood celebrity to get a generous amount of perfectly legal meds. You don't even have to ask a doctor "Do you know who I am, bro?" You just tell em it hurts and get your tasty drugs.

Are you happy about Karo Parisyan being back in the UFC? I guess I am, but it would be nicer if we knew he'd gotten his problems under control. As of his last fight two months ago in Australia, he was still suffering anxiety issues to the point where he had to ask if he could fight earlier on the card so he could get things over with. And how about that painkiller addiction? You know, the one a friend described like this:

“Karo’s had some problems with an addiction to pain medicine due to an injury he sustained a few years ago,” began Melanson, who essentially began training under Karo Parisyan years ago while under the guidance of grappling legend Gokor Chivichyan in L.A., only to evolve to a point with his own grappling where he eventually became the teacher. “Then when he started having these anxiety problems, it didn’t seem like the anxiety pills were helping him. The only thing that was helping him was the pain medication that he had been taking for his injuries. That’s when he just started down that slope.

"He told me that he was on pain medicine, but he wanted to get off. He had a plan and he was working his way to get off of it. About a month ago he was taking about half the amount that he usually does and he was pretty optimistic. He was really trying to push it. He was going through some withdrawals and he would try to push it as hard as he could to get off the stuff. He really had a plan to be off three weeks prior to the fight and he really wanted to clean up. He really wanted to do this right. It was really important to him and his family. I hadn’t spoken to him for just a little bit, and I guess he tried, but he couldn’t."

Well, according to Karo there never was a painkiller problem:

“My issues had to do with my anxiety problems and panic attacks,” said Parisyan. “Painkillers were thrown out there, but that wasn’t it. People made these accusations because I’d been popped for medication (months before). I’d taken two pain pills the morning of my fight for a torn hamstring and didn’t think much of it.”

Parisyan said he alerted an NSAC official that he’d taken the medication after the bout when he was asked for a urine sample. Parisyan said he was told it wouldn’t be an issue as long as he had documentation from his physician.

Parisyan didn’t have a prescription for the ingested pills -- later identified as Percocet -- which the fighter said had been given to him by a friend. Thinking the pills were the same as what he’d been prescribed, Parisyan said he was shocked to get the call a month later telling him that he’d be disciplined for it.

“Every fighter I know takes pain medication like it's M&Ms,” said Parisyan. “I was the unlucky one who only took it the day of the fight without even thinking about it.”

I don't know ... you do have to jump through a lot of questionable logic hoops to make Karo's version of the story work. I appreciate Dana White reneging on his 'never / forever' banning of Karo, but I do kinda wish he'd said "You're welcome back when you've sorted your shit out" instead of bringing him back along with the same problems that got the guy kicked out in the first place.

Color me surprised:

Less than a year after Dana White tweeted that Karo Parisyan would never fight again in the UFC, "The Heat" has been welcomed back to the organization and offered a fight against Dennis Hallman at UFC 123 in Auburn Hills, Mich.

MMA Fighting confirmed the news with two sources close to the situation, as well as Parisyan himself Thursday afternoon.

Can't root against Karo here - while I'm not exactly thrilled about the painkiller cocktail that cost him a win (that he shouldn't have received anyway) against Dong Hyun Kim at UFC 94 (GSP vs. Penn II - man, time flies) or the lack of what could have been pure awesome between he and Hazelett, I can't do anything but hope for the best.  Good thing Hallman sucks, otherwise I'd be torn.

Also: Karo's infractions <<<<<< Daley's infractions.  This is surprising to me, but I'll shit my pants (Internet style) if Semtex is ever found in the Octagon again.