Exclusive: Left With a Bitter Taste in His Mouth From Controversial TKO Loss to Ryan Ford, Karo Parisyan Calls For Rematch
Ahead of his MMA Live 1 main event bout with Canadian standout Ryan Ford, Karo Parisyan said he wanted to prove to himself and to his fans that he turned a corner in his personal and professional life.
In spite of the fact that message boards have been abuzz with how impressive the 28-year-old’s performance was Thursday night in London, Ontario, Canada, in spite of a disappointing doctor’s stoppage loss, after watching the fight Parisyan wants another crack at Ford.
“I did say I wanted a rematch. First and foremost going into the fight I felt great and everything was fine and I was controlling the fight until the last moment [when] I caught an unfortunate knee. Wherever they can put together this fight, hopefully he takes the rematch and I would love to take it and fight him again,” Parisyan told CagePotato.com Sunday. “And I will prove to everyone that Ryan Ford didn’t beat me and the knee and the cut didn’t beat me either. I’m so upset. Let Ryan come out and take a rematch. He told me he’d give me a rematch when I was getting into the back [after the fight]. I said, ‘Give me a rematch. You know you lost this fight. You were losing the fight and nothing was going to change.’ I’ve been in these wars all my life and I’ve always been able to pull out every freaking fight whether I was cut or tired or whatever it was or whether I was rocked. I wasn’t hurt and I wanted to keep fighting.”
What got Parisyan most upset he says wasn’t that he lost, it was the way Ford celebrated after the bout as if he had won definitively by knockout or submission.
“I got very upset, no disrespect to Ryan, by the way he was celebrating after the fight, jumping up on [the cage] like he knocked me out or he finished me. Dude, you lost two rounds and the second round was almost a 10-8 round,” he points out. “I completely dominated him. Two rounds I’m ahead on the scorecards. I’m winning the fight and he acts like he actually finished the fight, like he finished me.”
Karo feels that the combined inexperience of the cageside doctor with dealing with MMA-related cuts and the Ontario Athletic Commission, who have only been in the business of regulating MMA events for a month, contributed to what he feels was an early stoppage.
“He threw a knee, I got cut and they stopped the fight just like that. I’ve seen [UFC] fights on Spike TV that went on — just like my cut, maybe even worse — and they let the fight go on until… Two rounds they let the fight go on. My friend, Jay Hieron got cut on his forehead and they let the fight go on until the end of the third round when he had lost a lot of blood. It was very unfortunate what happened, but I don’t feel that I lost the fight. I was winning the fight and I would have won the fight. I just know it in my heart. The third round I would have still done the same thing [as I did the first two rounds]. Even if they had patched it up a little bit – I was bleeding a little bit – I almost guarantee [I would have won the fight]. I completely understand [the commission and the doctor wanting to be cautious because this is a new commission], but that’s playing with my record,” Karo says. “Coming into the fight I felt great. I was winning the fight and anyone who has eyes who can judge a fight knows that I was winning the fight pretty much decisively. I was winning the fight and second round I was dominating and then I get a cut and they give him the fight because I got a cut. I just felt that I was not treated the way that I should have been treated as far as [how] the cut went on. They didn’t work on the cut. Just because they thought the cut was deep or there was [too much] blood, or whatever.”
Another qualm Parisyan has is the blanket classification used to label a loss by doctor’s stoppage. A TKO can refer to a referee, doctor or corner stoppage or if a fighter cannot continue due to an injury sustained during the bout like a broken limb or rib. “The Heat” says that besides looking at the rules and possibly changing them so that a fight is decided by the judges’ scorecards when a doctor rules a bout can’t continue due to a questionable cut or hematoma, he is hopeful that the guidelines of what constitutes a “Technical Knockout” will someday change.
“The next thing I was really upset about is that I heard they’re calling this a TKO. He didn’t finish me. I got cut, I stood up to try to go after him and I slipped on my own blood and I was still going after him. They stopped the fight and that’s when they checked out the cut. This is not a technical knockout. Sure a TKO can stand for a lot of things, but I don’t want it to be a TKO because Ryan Ford didn’t finish me. Ryan Ford threw a knee – a lucky knee – he should count his stars at how lucky he is,” he explains. “He threw a lucky knee that cut my forehead and they gave him the fight and he’s celebrating like, ‘Oh, I beat Karo.’ Listen dude, sure on paper you might have beaten me, but you know and I know I won. I lost the battle, but I know I won the war.”
Parisyan says that although he is upset that Ford disrespected him by the way he celebrated following the bout and for things he said in certain interviews like claiming he was unfazed by Karo’s offensive attacks, he says that the rematch isn’t personal, it’s that he has some unfinished business with “The Real Deal.”
“[The guys in Ford’s camp are] nice guys. I partied with them after the fight, but I swear to God, Ryan’s brother even said, ‘We knew we were losing the fight. We were behind on the scorecards and we knew that.’ He even said that Ryan came back [to his corner] after the second round and said, ‘I thought I was knocked out when Karo threw me on my head.’ I swear to God. Ryan Ford was very tired, his muscles were filled with blood, he had already [given] up. He had already [given] up – he knows it, everybody knows it – in the second round as you can see in the fight,” Parisyan says. “I would have taken the fight and I would have won the fight. I could maybe even have finished Ryan Ford myself. I was very upset because of that, but it is what it is.”
If Ford follows through on his word that he’ll grant Parisyan a rematch, Karo says he would even take the fight in hostile territory.
“I will go to Edmonton, Canada and fight him in his hometown and I guarantee you I will be in way better shape and I guarantee you the results will be better. Let him beat me then. Let him beat me then and I’ll say, ‘Okay, this time you beat me. Good job, congratulations.’ And I’ll say, ‘Yes I lost.’ God forbid if that ever happens.”
The entire unedited one-hour interview with Parisyan, in which he talks about Ford, his past problems, his current mindset, where he goes from here and much, much more will be featured on this week’s episode of CagePotato’s The Bum Rush Radio Show on Thursday.
