UFC 71’s main event caused a bit of an uproar in the eyes of Liddell fans. Honestly, I don’t think it’s anything to gripe about, it was simply history repeating itself, and it’s time for a new champion to reign supreme in the light-heavyweight division.
Though the main event may have stirred the emotions of fans, Parisyan (17-4-0) and Burkman (8-4-0) seemed to steal the show with fifteen minutes of action packed, judo throwing, hard fought rounds. It was an explosive three rounds from beginning to end, to say the least. Parisyan displayed much polished striking ability and a drastic improvement in his cardio. The same cannot be said about Burkman. Burkman’s lack of conditioning was evident to fans watching as he began to take deep breaths during the last minutes of the first round. Though Karo’s jabs and counters further solidified his unanimous win over Burkman, his conditioning sealed the deal.
In an interview, Karo states: "He's a strong guy, but his cardio was shit. Thank god it wasn't that good. I out-conditioned him."
On top of adding a notch on his belt, Parisyan announced his desire for a title shot. Refusing to beg on his knees like Franca and St. Pierre, Parisyan still asked Dana White to give him another chance, as his first was to take place at UFC 56, but was forced to pull out due to an injury.
However, even with Parisyan’s cry for a title shot, it appears that it’s going to be put off till 2008. With TUF6 debuting in September, all eyes are on Hughes and Serra’s match up, which is looking to happen at the TUF6 Finale in December. Parisyan in the meantime, may have to duke it out with Jon Fitch (13-2-0) before he gets a chance to attain the belt. The possibility of the winner of Serra-Hughes taking on the winner of the St. Pierre- Koscheck, scheduled on August at UFC 74, can also pose as a setback for Parisyan’s title shot.
Fitch is set to fight on June 12 in UFC Fight Night 10 against Roan Carneiro.
Whatever ends up happening down the road, Parisyan never fails to put on a good show for fans.
Stay classy fans,
The Lianger
2 Comments:
I think I've never given Parisyan enough credit. Maybe it's due to his judo style, but I never really thought of him as a top welterweight even though he is successful as this at age 24. I did a little research, and it appears he is. Despite his loss to Sanchez, from which he came back in impressive fashion, Parisyan's last loss was in 2004 to GSP. If you want to find his third most recent loss, you need to go back to 2001.
He's beat Serra, Lytle, Diaz, and Shonie, leading me to believe that he's in that second tier of welterweights right below the legends. Legends= Hughes, St. Pierre. Second tier=Koscheck, Serra.
However, as much new-found respect I have for "The Heat," I do think he's going to get beat by up-and-comer Jon Fitch who is undefeated in the UFC. With my recent prediction success, however, expect Parisyan to take this fight handily.
Yeah, you definitely need to give the Heat his credit. He is the only one other than, Thierry Sokoudjou or Yoshida to effectively utilize Judo effectively in MMA. The Heat is always bring "the heat" and forcing his opponents to defend or engage in combat. He's actually a reallly good fighter, I've watched most his fights back in the day, he's no joke.
I don't know about him holding the belt though, I highly doubt he will. There is too much top competition in the WW division.
We'll have to wait and see :)
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