For welterweight Karo Parisyan, UFC 123 was going to be his climb back to the top and a resurrection of his once promising career. Unfortunately he faced a tougher opponent in Dennis Hallman on Saturday night and ended up being TKO’d in the first round at 1:47.
Parisyan had been battling his own personal problems which got him cut from the UFC, but a victory at last summer’s Impact FC event showed UFC president Dana White, that he was ready to return to the octagon.
With his loss, White noted at the post-fight press conference that it was time for Parisyan to take the next step in his life.
“Karo Parisyan’s gonna have to pull himself together and get his life together. People asked why I brought him back and everything else. I get in these positions where I sit her telling you, ‘you’re fighting for your UFC life.’ Then I have guys like Karo Parisyan who have put on a lot of great fights for me over the years. And he falls upon hard times. I’m not going to sit here like a goof and pat myself on the back but I’ve done a lot of things for him. He’s texting me and calling me and I said, “Alright, I’ll give this guy one more chance….Karo came in tonight and proved that he can’t compete at this level anymore.”