(Props: twitter.com/danawhite)
Look, everybody knows that Karo Parisyan is a very troubled young man. But we’re still shocked by the now-emerging news that Parisyan has pulled out of a fight at the last minute for the second time in his UFC career, directly following his nine-month suspension for the use of unapproved meds. Judging from his tweets, it’s obvious that UFC prez Dana White has had enough of Karo’s bullshit, and we may never see the Heat inside of the Octagon ever again. As for Parisyan’s "laundry list of excuses" for canceling his UFC 106 meeting with Dustin Hazelett, MMA Weekly presents one explanation:
Karo “The Heat” Parisyan is out of UFC 106 after failing to acquire a license in Nevada, according to Parisyan, due to not having the money to pay his fine from previously being suspended after testing positive for a three different pain killers following his UFC 94 bout with Kim Dong-hyun.
“There’s a lot of problems going on. They won’t re-license me unless I (expletive) pay them,” Parisyan told MMAWeekly.com. “I had to pay the $32,000 fine in order to fight. I never paid because I never had the money. I don’t know if I’ll be able to come back…Everything is over bro. I’m just going to go home. Everything is fucked up. I’ve got to think about what I’m going to do for my career. I’ve got to think about what I want to do as far as fighting goes.”
However, Nevada State Athletic Commission Executive Director Keith Kizer’s side of the story is quite a bit different. As he told Sherdog:
…Parisyan had already been fully licensed last January and was cleared to fight this Saturday. Kizer said Parisyan had not been required to take a pre-fight drug test for the painkillers he had been flagged for in January, as they would be tested the night of the bout.
Parisyan had contacted Kizer a few weeks ago to discuss a “nagging, lingering injury,” Kizer said, and asked what proper medications he could take prior to the bout. Kizer said he instructed Parisyan that Tylenol and icing was the safest method, but encouraged the fighter to have his physician send in a letter stating his injuries and what medications he was taking for it, so the NSAC doctor could work with him.
Kizer spoke again with Parisyan within the last week to discuss a payment plan for the $32,000 fine the fighter had previously accrued. Kizer said that NSAC Chairman Pat Lundvall had agreed to disperse payment for the fine out of the fighter’s show and win purse for this weekend.
“We knew (Parisyan) was having some financial difficulties and wanted to try and help him,” Kizer told Sherdog.com. It was agreed that $16,000 would be deducted from each purse and in the case of a loss, Parisyan would make further arrangements to settle up the remaining balance. Kizer said Parisyan seemed pleased with the arrangement.
Was this a matter of miscommunication, or is Karo straight-up lying about the situation to avoid blame? Two questions come to mind as we await more details: 1) Which preliminary card fight will now be promoted to UFC 106′s main PPV card to replace Parisyan vs. Hazelett? Will one of the fights from the lead-in Spike broadcast (Ben Saunders vs. Marcus Davis, Kendall Grove vs. Jake Rosholt) now take the spot? 2) At this point, where would you rank UFC 106 on our previous list of Most Cursed MMA Events of All Time?
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So did Aaron Brink