Pre-Fight with “the Heat”

By Neil “The Kid” Melanson

For www.EliteFTS.com

Prior to one of his UFC pay per view fights, I spent the week with my good friend and training partner, Karo “the Heat” Parisyan. I thought I would share with you some insight into what a fighter goes through a few days prior to the fight.

Karo and I arrived in Las Vegas on Tuesday, May 22. The week was crazy, and every day something hilarious happened. That’s the kind of guys we are though. We laugh at everything. However, I’m sure you aren’t reading this article to get new jokes so I thought it would be best if I took you through our days beginning on Thursday, May 24. The days prior to weighing in are quite stressful and very unique. So, here’s our story:

Thursday, May 24

We slept in a bit, maybe until 9:30 am. We had some juice and were ready to start our day. At 10:30 am, we met with Direct TV so that Karo could do a video shoot. The plan was to knock out the video and then grab some chow before the pre-fight press conference. We arrived on time, but they were quite behind schedule so we ended up waiting around for about an hour. Finally, it was Karo’s turn, and the camera loved him. We laughed and joked on the set to help kill time, and it did take some time. We finished up in time to haul ass down to the lobby to catch our ride to the press conference. Karo and I were pretty hungry, but we were sure that this wouldn’t take long. We were wrong.

We waited around for a long time before this whole thing got started, but we were in good company. Chuck Liddell joked and clowned around with us. He’s a really nice guy and the same goes for his coach, John Hackleman. Chris Leben was waiting around with us too. I kept asking him to give me a hand job (inside joke).

The press conference went fine. I sat to the right of Karo looking like a jackass I’m sure while he answered questions. It finished up around 3:00 pm and we were looking forward to finally getting some food. But not so fast…

Karo got mobbed with video and telephone interviews that stuck us at the conference for another hour. We felt like dumbasses for not waking up a little sooner. We were finally able to grab some grub but only something light because we had to workout in a few hours. We then met up with a representative from one of Karo’s sponsors. They knocked out some business, and then we chilled out in the room for a bit.

Around 7:00 pm, the witch doctor showed up. He gave Karo a chiropractic adjustment and stretched him out. After the doctor bailed, we hit up another interview. Apparently, the UFC was doing a behind the scenes segment for the DVD so they sat Karo down and asked him questions for about an hour. I laid down on the floor and beat my head because all we had done was interviews that day, not what we had needed to do. What we needed to do was train, work on the game plan, and oh yeah, cut weight.

At about 9:00 pm, Karo and I finally stepped onto the mat and started training. There were two camera crews filming us. One was a sponsor, and the other was the UFC. Sharing the mat room with us was Ivan Salaverry and his training partners. He and his team are a class act and a good group of guys.

So “the Heat” and I worked out and had a few laughs. It was a good training session, the last good one before the fight. After that, we hit the showers and grabbed some food. Finally, we called it a night and got some rest.

Friday weigh-ins

We slept in because we had no need to wake up early for food. Karo wasn’t allowed any food until after weighs-ins. We chilled out a little as Karo’s friends and family showed up at our door. They had come by to show their support.

A little while later, we took off down to the arena for a pre-weigh-in on the official scale. Karo ended up six pounds over at 176 lbs, which wasn’t bad actually. We had six pounds to kill in about three hours, but that wasn’t going to be too hard. We headed down to the sauna. On the way, Karo got entangled in a mob of photographs and autographs. He loves his fans and hates to turn his back on posing for a picture or signing a pair of gloves. I hustled him through the crowd though because we still had six pounds to lose.

We headed into the locker room, which was a mad house. Many fighters go there to shed the last few pounds and none of them are happy to be sitting in the sauna. Karo started to cut his weight. Usually we sit in there for 10 minutes and then come out to cool back down for 5–10 minutes. We repeat that over and over to shed the weight. Karo doesn’t really complain when he’s cutting weight, but I know he hates it.

Our friend Ivan showed up to shed some pounds and brought with him an up-beat attitude in a rather dismal setting. Kalib Sternes was also in there making small talk. Kalib and his cornerman helped us out by lending Karo a sauna suit. It helped a little and was a nice gesture. Terry Martin was in the sauna as well. He appeared to be having trouble making weight. I could be wrong about that, but he looked pissed and didn’t talk to anyone. Chuck Liddell popped in for a bit. He didn’t say as much as the day before, but no one really does. Cutting weight sucks balls no matter who you are.

Karo made weight in the locker room so we headed to the arena. The UFC had a camera crew follow us as we walked to the arena with a security escort. Thank god for that guy because Karo was getting mobbed.

Karo weighed in officially at 170 lbs in front of a large crowd and a live ESPN audience. He pounded a Gatorade and attended a brief rules meeting. We were ready to eat, and Karo was starving. As soon as we stepped out though, he was once again mobbed by fans. He did the routine for his fans for about an hour, but I knew that this poor guy was hungry as all hell.

We finally arrived at the room and got cleaned up to go eat. We also received a few more guests, and one of them was his cousin, Manvel (Manny). We dined well and celebrated Karo making weight. After dinner, we hit the tables and gambled. We had been gambling all week, but now we had a group of Armenians with us and it became quite entertaining. Karo and I headed up to the room after awhile and ordered room service, leaving his friends to party it up in the casino. We chowed down and watched Borat. We both love that movie and laugh more every time we see it.

We hit the sack at about 1:00 am and got some sleep. This was followed by a string of drunk Armenians knocking on our door throughout the night looking for a place to sleep, the last being Manny at about 5:00 am.

Saturday, fight day

When Karo woke up, all of his buddies were sleeping throughout the room. Good old Manny was snoring and busting ass on a consistent basis, filling the room with the aroma of shit. We grabbed some breakfast and gambled for a bit. Karo was very calm and never showed any pre-fight jitters, which was pretty impressive actually.

Later, we headed back up to the room and relaxed. Everyone was awake by then, and Karo’s father came to check on his son. Karo did another interview in his hotel room. This time it was with a hot blonde laying next to him trying to be provocative for a Canadian fight television show. He must of felt great when she was asking him about his sex life with his dad sitting right next to him.

Eventually, 5:00 pm came, and it was time for us to head to the arena for the fight. I did a gear check and made sure we had everything. A UFC camera crew showed up along with a security escort. They filmed us walking while the security staff got us through the crowd. I love those damn guys.

Backstage, Karo shared a dressing room with James Irvin and Rampage Jackson. Irvin went into his fight right after we got there, and I didn’t see him again. I believe he sustained a pretty serious knee injury. Rampage showed up looking pretty damn focused or nervous, but it was probably both. Karo and him are friends so they bullshitted a little bit and then joined up with their cornermen.

Randy Couture, otherwise known as Captain America or Captain Cool—whichever you prefer because he’s both—showed up to help corner Karo. If you never had the chance to meet Randy and you want to know what he’s like, he’s everything you think he should be. He’s a great guy, that’s for sure.

They taped up Karo’s hands and gloves and gave him a urinalysis. Ivan popped in to wish Karo luck. Like I said, Ivan’s a class act. Juanito offered to warm Karo up with some mitt work so I started getting everything ready for the octagon including bags of ice, towels, Karo’s gear, and of course, all the sponsored gear.

The witch doctor showed up to give Karo a stretch and warm up his hips. I got pulled aside to do some interviews about Karo’s training leading up to the fight. Fight time got closer, and Karo took some time for himself. He kept quiet and focused on his fight. He then made his personal prayer to God.

And then it was time to go. We all gathered up, and Karo, Randy, Manny, and I got ready to head to the octagon. We all said some motivating words to Karo, and Randy smacked him a few times to make sure he was alert. We walked out and stood in front of the big, black curtain with cameras in our faces and the sound of the audience tickling our stomachs. The curtain opened, and Karo’s entrance music played. It was time to turn up the HEAT.

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