2swell k-wells
05-21-2007, 04:11 PM
lil long, but **** it cause you all can read.
The main event for UFC 71 is Chuck Liddell taking on Quinton “Rampage” Jackson for the light heavyweight title, but the fight that may end up stealing the show features two of the best welterweight fighters in the world when Karo “The Heat” Parisyan takes on former Ultimate Fighter housemate, Josh “The People’s Warrior” Burkman. The 170 lb. fighters were recently on MMAWeekly Radio to give their thoughts on the fight and both have the welterweight title on their minds.
Karo Parisyan was slated to take on then welterweight champion Matt Hughes at UFC 56 in November of 2005, but due to a hamstring injury had to withdraw. Since then, he has never been offered up another title shot, something that still irks him to this day.
“The deal is that I got injured when I was supposed to fight Matt (Hughes) and I got injured pretty bad,” said Parisyan. “I had to come back and work my way back to fight for the title. I lost my title shot and they said okay you lost it and now you’ve got to work your way up, which I agreed with, I didn’t really mind. But St. Pierre got injured, they gave him a couple of months, 2 or 3 months to recover, and he came back and still fought for the title. I’m kind of disappointed about that. It is what it is and I can’t change what it is, so I just have to come back myself and stack up the wins, get back to the top and get my title shot again. For now, I have a fight in a week and I’m going to try to take care of Josh Burkman and after that we’ll worry about the title fight.”
Meanwhile, Josh Burkman, never one to look past an opponent stated that he always has the future in mind and a title shot would definitely be welcomed.
“I definitely think that the winner of this fight should be in title contention,” Burkman stated during his interview with MMAWeekly Radio. “In my view, when I watch the Diego fight (vs. Karo Parisyan) I don’t think Karo lost the Diego fight, I think he might have won the fight. I mean Karo’s already beaten the world champion, he’s beaten Matt Serra, so whoever wins this fight definitely deserves a shot at the title.”
Beating Matt Serra is something that definitely bodes well for Karo Parisyan if he is able to get a victory over Burkman at UFC 71, something “The Heat” knows all too well.
“Obviously my cards are on the table, I fought Serra and I gave a pretty dominant win over Matt Serra, and taking nothing away from him, he’s still a tough guy and he’s the champ right now,” said a very confident Karo Parisyan. “I just don’t want to retire one day and Matt Serra was the champion in the UFC for one period and I wasn’t. It makes me look good in a certain way, but it does and it doesn’t because I want to be there and I want to have that title around my waist and it takes a lot of commitment and Matt showed that himself and he beat St. Pierre fair and square. They’ve got some animosity between each other right now, but I’d like to take that title away from him.”
Burkman on the other hand has been mired in controversy lately after an apparent late night bar brawl including former UFC and Pride middleweight Phil Baroni. But the former Ultimate Fighter competitor understands the biggest fight of his career stands in front of him in the form of top ten welterweight fighter, Karo Parisyan.
“I think it’s probably the biggest opportunity of my career yet. Karo is definitely the most decorated fighter I’ve fought and it’s on a huge stage. It’s definitely the biggest shot I’ve had and I think the winner of the fight gets thrown into title contention,” said Burkman.
Neither Karo Parisyan or Josh Burkman have ever shied away from talking about an opponent if the moment is right, but both fighters seem to have the bout on their minds and nothing but the utmost respect for each other.
“I don’t like to disrespect my opponents, so I don’t want to say he’s a stepping stone,” said Karo about Josh Burkman. “I mean Josh is a good athlete. He’s good in everything, not great at anything. He’s one of those guys. As far as him being a threat, I don’t see it that much. I see Josh as a fighter. He comes in there to fight and he’s a good athlete, but as far as skill wise, I think I have way more skill than he does. Anybody’s got a punchers chance, but at the moment – and I’m not disrespecting Josh and I don’t underestimate him at all – I’ve been training pretty hard for the fight. I don’t see him as a stepping stone, I see him as another opponent, and I hope to see my arm raised after the fight.”
Burkman has very similar respect for Karo Parisyan and the brand of judo turned MMA that he brings to the table.
“I think we’re both just focused on the fight. I think we both know we’re in for a war. I think everybody knows that. I think people need to run their mouths and talk trash to hype their fights and I don’t think me and Karo need to do that. The fight speaks for itself,” said Burkman. “I’ve prepared to try to block the throws and everything. I mean Karo doesn’t just have throws, he’s got good takedowns, he’s got good trips, you know, he’s got everything. So we’ve just done everything we can do to prepare ourselves for whatever Karo is going to throw at us.”
As previously mentioned, this bout has fight of the night written all over it. This wouldn’t be the first time for Karo Parisyan to steal the spotlight off the main event with his performance.
“I don’t want to sound ****y, but I’ve stole a lot of shows before,” said the Armenian born fighter. “I was on the undercard and I’ve stolen shows. I go to fight. I bring everything I have into a fight. I’m going to test Josh. I’m going to stand in front of Josh because a lot of guys Josh has fought, they really haven’t really pushed Josh, and I’m one of those guys because I will push Josh and see where I can take him. Josh also comes to fight so look for fireworks. I’m going to unleash everything I have on Josh Burkman.”
And while many fighters seem to go out fit not to lose a fight, Josh Burkman always has pleasing the crowd on his mind.
“I think part of me always tries to put on a show,” said Burkman. “If I was just going out there to win, I don’t think I’d go out there and pick people up and slam them. I’d probably just go for an easy little takedown. I feed off the crowd. When the crowd gets loud and gets hyped, I get hyped. I mean, not only am I a fighter, but I’m an entertainer and I like to entertain the crowd. I always have a little bit of that in me that I want to put on a show.”
To hear the rest of what Karo Parisyan had to say including a possible rematch with Diego Sanchez or to see what Josh Burkman mentioned about his budding relationship with a UFC ring girl, check out the archives for MMAWeekly Radio and pick up a premium membership for only $5 a month.
The main event for UFC 71 is Chuck Liddell taking on Quinton “Rampage” Jackson for the light heavyweight title, but the fight that may end up stealing the show features two of the best welterweight fighters in the world when Karo “The Heat” Parisyan takes on former Ultimate Fighter housemate, Josh “The People’s Warrior” Burkman. The 170 lb. fighters were recently on MMAWeekly Radio to give their thoughts on the fight and both have the welterweight title on their minds.
Karo Parisyan was slated to take on then welterweight champion Matt Hughes at UFC 56 in November of 2005, but due to a hamstring injury had to withdraw. Since then, he has never been offered up another title shot, something that still irks him to this day.
“The deal is that I got injured when I was supposed to fight Matt (Hughes) and I got injured pretty bad,” said Parisyan. “I had to come back and work my way back to fight for the title. I lost my title shot and they said okay you lost it and now you’ve got to work your way up, which I agreed with, I didn’t really mind. But St. Pierre got injured, they gave him a couple of months, 2 or 3 months to recover, and he came back and still fought for the title. I’m kind of disappointed about that. It is what it is and I can’t change what it is, so I just have to come back myself and stack up the wins, get back to the top and get my title shot again. For now, I have a fight in a week and I’m going to try to take care of Josh Burkman and after that we’ll worry about the title fight.”
Meanwhile, Josh Burkman, never one to look past an opponent stated that he always has the future in mind and a title shot would definitely be welcomed.
“I definitely think that the winner of this fight should be in title contention,” Burkman stated during his interview with MMAWeekly Radio. “In my view, when I watch the Diego fight (vs. Karo Parisyan) I don’t think Karo lost the Diego fight, I think he might have won the fight. I mean Karo’s already beaten the world champion, he’s beaten Matt Serra, so whoever wins this fight definitely deserves a shot at the title.”
Beating Matt Serra is something that definitely bodes well for Karo Parisyan if he is able to get a victory over Burkman at UFC 71, something “The Heat” knows all too well.
“Obviously my cards are on the table, I fought Serra and I gave a pretty dominant win over Matt Serra, and taking nothing away from him, he’s still a tough guy and he’s the champ right now,” said a very confident Karo Parisyan. “I just don’t want to retire one day and Matt Serra was the champion in the UFC for one period and I wasn’t. It makes me look good in a certain way, but it does and it doesn’t because I want to be there and I want to have that title around my waist and it takes a lot of commitment and Matt showed that himself and he beat St. Pierre fair and square. They’ve got some animosity between each other right now, but I’d like to take that title away from him.”
Burkman on the other hand has been mired in controversy lately after an apparent late night bar brawl including former UFC and Pride middleweight Phil Baroni. But the former Ultimate Fighter competitor understands the biggest fight of his career stands in front of him in the form of top ten welterweight fighter, Karo Parisyan.
“I think it’s probably the biggest opportunity of my career yet. Karo is definitely the most decorated fighter I’ve fought and it’s on a huge stage. It’s definitely the biggest shot I’ve had and I think the winner of the fight gets thrown into title contention,” said Burkman.
Neither Karo Parisyan or Josh Burkman have ever shied away from talking about an opponent if the moment is right, but both fighters seem to have the bout on their minds and nothing but the utmost respect for each other.
“I don’t like to disrespect my opponents, so I don’t want to say he’s a stepping stone,” said Karo about Josh Burkman. “I mean Josh is a good athlete. He’s good in everything, not great at anything. He’s one of those guys. As far as him being a threat, I don’t see it that much. I see Josh as a fighter. He comes in there to fight and he’s a good athlete, but as far as skill wise, I think I have way more skill than he does. Anybody’s got a punchers chance, but at the moment – and I’m not disrespecting Josh and I don’t underestimate him at all – I’ve been training pretty hard for the fight. I don’t see him as a stepping stone, I see him as another opponent, and I hope to see my arm raised after the fight.”
Burkman has very similar respect for Karo Parisyan and the brand of judo turned MMA that he brings to the table.
“I think we’re both just focused on the fight. I think we both know we’re in for a war. I think everybody knows that. I think people need to run their mouths and talk trash to hype their fights and I don’t think me and Karo need to do that. The fight speaks for itself,” said Burkman. “I’ve prepared to try to block the throws and everything. I mean Karo doesn’t just have throws, he’s got good takedowns, he’s got good trips, you know, he’s got everything. So we’ve just done everything we can do to prepare ourselves for whatever Karo is going to throw at us.”
As previously mentioned, this bout has fight of the night written all over it. This wouldn’t be the first time for Karo Parisyan to steal the spotlight off the main event with his performance.
“I don’t want to sound ****y, but I’ve stole a lot of shows before,” said the Armenian born fighter. “I was on the undercard and I’ve stolen shows. I go to fight. I bring everything I have into a fight. I’m going to test Josh. I’m going to stand in front of Josh because a lot of guys Josh has fought, they really haven’t really pushed Josh, and I’m one of those guys because I will push Josh and see where I can take him. Josh also comes to fight so look for fireworks. I’m going to unleash everything I have on Josh Burkman.”
And while many fighters seem to go out fit not to lose a fight, Josh Burkman always has pleasing the crowd on his mind.
“I think part of me always tries to put on a show,” said Burkman. “If I was just going out there to win, I don’t think I’d go out there and pick people up and slam them. I’d probably just go for an easy little takedown. I feed off the crowd. When the crowd gets loud and gets hyped, I get hyped. I mean, not only am I a fighter, but I’m an entertainer and I like to entertain the crowd. I always have a little bit of that in me that I want to put on a show.”
To hear the rest of what Karo Parisyan had to say including a possible rematch with Diego Sanchez or to see what Josh Burkman mentioned about his budding relationship with a UFC ring girl, check out the archives for MMAWeekly Radio and pick up a premium membership for only $5 a month.