Griffin Nursing Knee Injury, Planning UFC Return at Featherweight

Tyson Griffin | Terry Goodlad/Sherdog.com

UFC lightweight staple Tyson Griffin will test the waters in a new division in 2011.

Griffin announced Saturday in a video posted on his official website that he will make the cut to 145 pounds when he returns to the Octagon later this year.

“I’ve been having some problems with my knee,” Griffin said. “I decided to get an MRI. They found some tears in my meniscus, so I decided to get that cleaned out. It’s going to be a few more weeks before I can put my knee to the test and make sure everything is good to go and commit to a fight.”

“Nobody wants to be back in the Octagon quicker than I do. I’ve got some big plans for 2011. Unfortunately, they are put on hold right now. Those plans are to move to 145 and make a run at that belt,” said Griffin.

Griffin has lost three straight contests, the first such stretch of his career. A five-time recipient of “Fight of the Night” honors, Griffin had won seven of his nine UFC bouts before dropping a split decision to Evan Dunham at UFC 115. The Xtreme Couture product was next knocked out for the first time in his career by the hard-hitting Takanori Gomi. Griffin’s most recent appearance in the cage resulted in a controversial split decision defeat to smothering wrestler Nik Lentz at UFC 123.

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Schafer Focused on Return as Middleweight

Eric Schafer has not fought since March, when he suffered a dislocated wrist in his unanimous decision loss to Jason Brilz at UFC Live 1. When he does return to the cage, the former light heavyweight aims to do so in another weight class.

“What I want to do is drop down to 185 pounds,” said the 33-year-old Schafer (Pictured), a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. “I want to be skinnier and be faster to take advantage of my quickness. Instead of bulking up and then cutting to 205, I’m just going to walk around at 210 pounds and make a more natural cut to 185. It’ll still be a tough division, but I think I’ll be able to fight more to my level of ability.”

The Milwaukee native has been far from idle during his time away from the cage, even with the injury he sustained against Brilz.

“A doctor told me I got misdiagnosed at the time and I needed surgery, but I didn’t get it,” said Schafer, who has nine finishes among his 11 professional MMA victories. “I didn’t do a lot of striking this summer, but I competed in a lot of gi and no-gi grappling tournaments with my hand and wrist taped up.”

Along with enjoying success and honing his submission game on the grappling circuit, Schafer also went into business for himself over the summer. Witness the birth of Eric “Red” Schafer Mixed Martial Arts in Milwaukee.

“In the midsummer, I started working on opening my own MMA gym,” said Schafer. “We spent all fall planning and getting the gym ready to open, and we officially opened Dec. 6, so we’ve been open about four weeks. You always see fighters who open their own gym, and they don’t do well in the first fight after they open their gym because they’re so busy trying to get everything ready. Now I know why that happens. This month has really been crazy, and it’s been a lot of work.”

Schafer -- who holds victories over Jason Guida, Rob MacDonald, Houston Alexander and Antonio Mendes -- has already seen at least one positive result from all the work that comes with opening one’s own gym.

“I’ve been teaching all of the grappling classes since the gym opened,” he said, “so I’ve been rolling several times a day, several times a week, and I’m in good shape.”

Now that his gym is up and running, Schafer hopes to get back to fighting sometime in the next couple of months.

“I talked to my manager a few days ago, and we’re looking for a fight in February,” said Schafer. “Physically, I’m in great shape, but I’m not in fight shape. I’m in shape for a fight camp. Give me [a] four-, six- or [an] eight-week camp, and I’ll be ready to go. So, we’re looking at fighting in February or early March.”

Schafer, who became a free agent after the loss to Brilz, holds a 3-4 record during his time with the UFC. His other losses, all at 205 pounds, came to the world-ranked Michael Bisping and Ryan Bader and “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 1 finalist Stephan Bonnar, all of whom are still solidly under contract with Zuffa LLC. Returning to the Octagon remains a goal for Schafer.

“Without a doubt, I’d like to get back to the UFC,” he said. “It’d be amazing to be able to fight there again. I’ve always been professional when I’ve fought there. I’ve made weight every time and not been content to just grind out decisions. I’ve always gone for finishes.

“I think [the UFC] likes me, but with so many next-level organizations out there now, like Strikeforce and Bellator, I’m going to keep my options open,” Schafer added. “I want my first fight back to knock the rust off, but then I want tough guys who are going to allow me to put on good fights, whether I win or lose.”

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Carwin Agrees to Return at UFC 131, Was Offered Nelson Bout

Former UFC interim heavyweight champion Shane Carwin has agreed to make his Octagon return in June.

In a blog post on his official website, Carwin on Tuesday revealed that he “rapidly accepted” an offer to fight at UFC 131, an event expected to take place on June 11 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver.

“As of this blog no opponent has been mentioned,” Carwin wrote.

The 36-year-old mechanical engineer also stated that he had agreed to a match with “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 10 winner Roy Nelson at UFC 130 on May 28. Carwin said that he was told the bout was “90% a go” before the UFC decided to go “a different direction” for Nelson, who is now rumored to face former champion Frank Mir at the event.

Carwin, who began his career with 12 straight first-round finishes, has not competed since suffering the first loss of his career to Brock Lesnar last July at UFC 116. After nearly finishing then-champion Lesnar in the first round of the title unification bout, Carwin tired and was submitted via arm-triangle choke in the second period.

“I am training hard and working on fixing the issues I ran into during the Lesnar fight,” wrote Carwin in the same post.

In August, Carwin’s name was reportedly included in a list of professional athletes who had received shipments in 2006 from J. Michael Bennett, an Alabama pharmacist convicted of participating in a nationwide anabolic steroid ring. Carwin has not tested positive for steroids or any banned substance in his MMA career.

Originally slated to face Nelson at UFC 125 on New Year’s Day, Carwin withdrew from that bout due to back pain. In November, Carwin underwent successful surgery to relieve pressure from his C5, 6 and 7 vertebrae.

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‘Dynamite’ Notebook: FEG Restructures for Spring 2011 Return

Alistair Overeem dispatched of Todd Duffee. | Taro Irei/Sherdog.com

TOKYO -- As “K-1 Dynamite: The Power of Courage 2010” on Friday closed the book on Fighting and Entertainment Group’s 2010 efforts, it also kicked off the beginning of an approximate three-month hiatus, according to FEG President Sadaharu Tanikawa.

“As promoters, we caused a lot of problems for fighters, venues, and the fans last month,” said Tanikawa, acknowledging the highly publicized issues the promotion has been experiencing in the recent past. “But I’d like to make sure that 2011 is a comeback year for us. We will restructure the company for three months and start holding events in the spring.”

During this self-imposed hibernation-slash-corporate metamorphosis, the long-awaited introduction of much-needed investors is also expected to come in January. Despite anxiety in the final quarter of 2010 over the viability of support from Chinese investment bank Puji Capital, Tanikawa’s comments indicate negotiations are still healthy and on-track.

“We’ll make an official announcement soon, but Puji will serve as an intermediary,” Tanikawa said. “We’re in negotiations with Shanghai Media Group, and Puji is helping us work out a deal with them. There’s also investment coming in from the United States. We’ve signed deals with multiple companies, though I’m not sure how much I can really talk about it yet. I’m hoping to have a press conference for all of this in January.”

According to Tanikawa, FEG’s promotional direction in 2011 focuses on courting new talent and strengthening its heavyweight divisions. To wit, the recent successes of Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem in the Japanese ring and media have seemingly energized Tanikawa into recommitting to push the triple-crowned Dutchman well into the New Year.

“I've committed myself to the comeback of martial arts in Japan. Right now, martial arts are a sport for hardcore fans. However, we need to attract casual fans, too. Alistair Overeem’s fights, in particular, attract the general public,” said Tanikawa. “I want Alistair Overeem to become the strongest man amongst six billion. I plan to offer him fights in both K-1 and MMA; he’s going to be very busy in 2011. Andrei Arlovski, Josh Barnett, Semmy Schilt, Badr Hari and Jerome Le Banner -- they all want to fight Alistair, and I want Alistair to crush all the challengers.”

Tanikawa was unimpressed with the
Takaya-Fernandes bout on NYE.Part of Tanikawa’s desire to continue pushing Overeem as a crossover star stems from his current assessment of MMA in Japan, which is less than optimistic. Though Hiroyuki Takaya successfully took the Dream featherweight title from Bibiano Fernandes at “Dynamite,” Tanikawa was unimpressed with the performance, claiming the bout did more to drive away casual interest than it did to attract it.

Tanikawa’s solution for this, as well as his vision for gaining wider mainstream appeal, seems to be in taking MMA fighters out of their element in an attempt to replicate Overeem’s successes. Tanikawa used former Strikeforce light heavyweight king Gegard Mousasi and his commanding decision victory over K-1 heavyweight champion Kyotaro Fujimoto as a prime example.

“I want Mousasi to fight for K-1 if he’s interested. If you think about how things are in Japan, I think it’s better to fight in K-1 because it makes fighters very popular and famous. MMA fighters like [Norifumi] “Kid” Yamamoto and Genki Sudo won and lost in the K-1 ring, but they still became famous from it. I want Mousasi to become very famous,” Tanikawa said. He also noted “Wicky” Akiyo Nishiura as another mixed martial artist he hoped to head hunt for K-1 competition.

However, that does not mean FEG will abandon Dream or MMA bouts, as both Tanikawa and Dream Event Producer Keiichi Sasahara reiterated a desire to fill out both poles of the MMA weight divisions. Asserting that “Dream needs a heavyweight class,” Tanikawa expressed a desire to bring in more talent at heavyweight and lighter weight divisions for the promotion, particularly given the newly divided featherweight (143 pounds) and bantamweight (134 pounds) divisions. The immediate plan for Dream in 2011 is to stage a bantamweight tournament.

“Takaya just won the belt, so we are thinking that, since he is the featherweight champion, we might just have a bantamweight tournament this year. We still have to figure out what comes next for Takaya, so we’re going to take some time before deciding who will be his next challenger,” said Sasahara.

One person who definitely will not be entering an FEG ring this year is Bob Sapp, who reportedly pulled out of his IGF special rules bout with disgraced sumo wrestler turned professional wrestler Shinichi Suzukawa. When pressed for the details behind Sapp’s sudden refusal to fight on the day of the event, Tanikawa scoffed.

“Does anyone actually care?” he asked. “I don’t know the reasons why, but we did our best to make him fight. He just said he didn’t want to. This is typical [of Sapp]. I feel really sorry for Suzukawa, actually.”

Before the inevitable winter hibernation, focus now shifts to “Dynamite’s” television performance. Given that a vast majority of Japan watches television staples such as NHK’s Red and White Song Battle, amongst several other comedy variety shows on New Year’s Eve, Tanikawa expressed a tempered hope for at least low double-digit numbers for “Dynamite.”

“In terms of [Friday] night’s ratings, if we can get double digits, even if it’s around 10 percent, that’s good,” he said. “I heard that [comedy variety show] Gaki no Tsukai and the Red and White Song Battle were really good shows last night. I’d be happy with 10 percent [for ‘Dynamite’].”

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UFC to Announce Return to Brazil Dec. 15

Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta will make an announcement tomorrow on UFC.com from City Hall in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

The announcement is likely to contain information about the promotion's imminent return to Brazil in 2011. Sherdog reported last month that the UFC might return to Brazil for the first time in more than a decade as soon as August. The rumored venue for the to-be-announced event is the HSBC Arena in Rio De Janeiro. Tomorrow's gathering will air live on UFC.com at 11 a.m. ET/8 a.m. PT.

White and Fertitta first visited Brazil in October to begin negotiations for the event, holding two reported meetings during their stay. The first meeting was with Mayor Eduardo Paes; the second was with an assistant of Eike Batista, whom Forbes Magazine ranked the eighth-richest man in the world.

White and Fertitta have brought with them several special guests for tomorrow's announcement, including Brazilian UFC champions Anderson Silva, Jose Aldo and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. Former light heavyweight titleholder Vitor Belfort will also be present, as will UFC hall of famer Royce Gracie. Mayor Paes will also make an appearance.

The UFC's last Brazilian event was UFC 17.5 in 1998, which was highlighted by Belfort's thrilling, 44-second knockout of Wanderlei Silva.

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‘Drago’ Vows to Unleash Ground Game Upon Return

Pete Sell: Jeff Sherwood | Sherdog.com

When Pete Sell debuted in the UFC nearly six years ago, he brought with him a 5-0 record and an accomplished ground game.

After shocking Phil Baroni with a guillotine choke at UFC 51, “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 4 alum dropped five of his next six bouts within the promotion, prompting his release after a technical knockout loss to Matt Brown at UFC 96 in March 2009.

Many vexed observers wonder why Sell has not utilized his formidable jiu-jitsu chops more often. The New York native took three of his first six wins via submission but has not earned a victory by tapout since his upset against Baroni. Sell plans to implement those skills upon his return to the cage.

“I haven’t shown enough of my ground game, which I should do more,” he told Sherdog.com. “I just got a little crazy with getting into the standing up. I took a liking to it, so I started banging people out. Now, I’m definitely looking to use all my attributes. I’m gonna be smarter about my game.”

Sell, a Serra Jiu-Jitsu black belt, attributes his struggles to the price that comes with getting an education in the Octagon.

“A lot of my learning I did at big shows,” he said. “I was 5-0 coming up versus a bunch of different guys, but I got a lot of my experience in the big show. I learned in front of millions of people.”

Included in that stretch were losses to Nate Quarry (twice), Scott Smith and Thales Leites. Sell believes the difference between winning and losing in some of those bouts were minute. His encounter with Smith featured one of the most improbable comebacks in UFC history, as Smith recovered from a brutal body blow to score a one-punch knockout at “The Ultimate Fighter 4” Finale.

“I definitely had some close fights, even with Thales,” he said. “I had Thales in the third round in such a tight guillotine. When he rolled over, his back hit the cage and my arm was stuck under there. It was so close -- inches, you know. With the Nate fight and the Scott fight, I’m banging with the guy the whole time. I’m not trying to play it safe or [not] go for the kill. That’s why I got myself in danger.”

Sell has only recently begun training at full strength after tearing his groin in May. That, coupled with some personal issues, has kept him out of action longer than anticipated.

“I just had a lot of stuff going on,” he said. “I was actually looking to get a fight this past May or June. Then I had that stuff going on in my personal life, and a little bit after that, that’s when I tore my groin. I was feeling like a mess.”

Sell, 28, plans on testing the groin in the gym before making any serious plans about the next move in his MMA career.

“What I want to do is train hard for about a month and see if it holds up, because I don’t want to book something, [and] then all of a sudden I have to pull out because of my groin again,” he said. “I hate doing that -- booking fights and pulling out.”

Like most anyone who has previously been associated with MMA’s most recognizable brand, Sell’s ultimate goal is to return to the UFC. If that day comes, it will be at welterweight instead of middleweight.

“I think I’m gonna be better at 170. The guys that have the reach on me at 185, they’re also humongous, too,” Sell said. “I think it’s the smartest thing to do the 170 thing. I feel like I hit hard for that weight.”

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Report: Alves to Return in May; Story Likely Foe

Thiago Alves: Dave Mandel | Sherdog.com

Welterweight contender Thiago Alves will reportedly return to the Octagon in May against up-and-comer Rick Story.

Alves announced news of his return via Twitter on Friday.

“Just found out I’ll be back inside of the cage in May! Great news to finish the year!” Alves wrote.

Though the American Top Team product followed with a tweet relaying that he did not know the identity of his upcoming opponent, MMAWeekly.com reports that Alves and Story will square off on May 28. Story called the Brazilian out on a recent episode of the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Savage Dog Show.”

Though the hosting venue for the UFC’s May 28 date is not yet set, the event is likely to take place in Las Vegas. Neither the bout nor the event has been officially announced by the promotion.

Alves comes off one of the most impressive performances of his career, a three-round dissection of John Howard at UFC 124 in Montreal. For 15 minutes, Alves dictated the pace of the bout and landed surgically precise strikes both high and low. Alves’ leg kicks were particularly devastating, hurting Howard early and preventing him from mounting desperate offense late in the bout. Widely regarded as one of the best strikers in the sport, the “Pitbull” holds 11 of his 18 career victories by knockout.

Story is riding a five-fight win streak heading into his confrontation with the former title challenger. The 26-year-old “Horror” most recently edged out Johny Hendricks in a close unanimous decision at “The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale” on Dec. 4. Story has not lost in the UFC since being defeated by John Hathaway in his Octagon debut in June 2009. He holds notable victories over Jake Ellenberger, Dustin Hazelett and Nick Osipczak.

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Cote Eyes March Return in Canadian Promotion

Patrick Cote file photo | Sherdog.com

Former UFC title contender Patrick Cote is currently in contract negotiations with a Canadian promotion.

Which one Cote will sign with is still a mystery, however.

Sherdog spoke with a source close to the situation Tuesday morning who confirmed that Cote was close to signing a deal and that his return to competition would probably be in March. The source would not reveal the name of the promotion negotiating with Cote.

Upon learning that the promotion in question had television and pay-per-view exposure, Sherdog contacted the Edmonton, Alberta-based Maximum Fighting Championship. Although Cote had talked to the MFC about fighting for them, MFC officials relayed that Cote and the promotion had not spoken in “a while,” and that there was likely no deal to be had in the foreseeable future.

Sherdog then contacted Toronto-based promotion Warrior-1 MMA, speaking to W-1 president Jack Bateman via email. Though the W-1 exec admitted to negotiating with Cote, he relayed that he could not go into detail.

“We have been in talks with Mr. Cote's management, and it is our understanding that Mr. Cote is currently weighing all of his options,” said Bateman. “Regardless of outcome, we wish Mr. Cote success in whatever direction he chooses.”

Bateman added that he had not spoken directly to Cote's management in the last week. Sherdog also attempted to contact the Edmonton-based The Fight Club, but could not reach owner Mark Sinclair for comment.

Cote was recently cut by the UFC after three-straight losses in the Octagon. In his bid to capture the UFC middleweight crown against Anderson Silva in 2008, Cote suffered a nasty knee injury that kept him sidelined for nearly a year and a half. Upon his return to the cage, he was submitted by Alan Belcher in May at UFC 113. The French-Canadian then fell to “TUF” alum Tom Lawlor at UFC 121 in October, losing a clear-cut unanimous decision.

Sherdog will keep abreast of the negotiations, which will likely come to a head by this weekend, and report on the matter when a deal is signed.

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UFC Eyes Possible August Return to Brazil

UFC President Dana White: Dave Mandel | Sherdog.com

After much speculation, it appears as though the UFC will return to Brazil for the first time in more than a decade, perhaps as soon as August at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro.

Respected journalist Joaquim Ferreira dos Santos -- a columnist for O Globo, the second-largest newspaper in Brazil -- broke the news.

UFC officials initiated negotiations during an October visit for two meetings, the first with Mayor Eduardo Paes and the second with an assistant of Eike Batista, the richest businessman in Brazil. Ranked as the eighth-richest man in the world by Forbes Magazine, with an estimated net worth of $27 billion, Batista was instrumental in bringing the 2016 Summer Olympics to Rio de Janeiro.

UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta and UFC President Dana White will reportedly return to the city on Dec. 14, along with four major Brazilian UFC stars, and could close the deal then.

Although he publicly stated that returning to Brazil was not a top priority -- efforts were focused on China and India -- it appears White altered his stance once the country was chosen as the host for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. The promotion has not held an event inside Brazil since UFC 17.5, which was highlighted by Vitor Belfort’s 44-second knockout of Wanderlei Silva in 1998.

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Griffin: Nothing to Learn from Gomi KO, Just Return to Winning

Tyson Griffin: Terry Goodlad | Sherdog.com

It was the first and only time Tyson Griffin has been finished.

Takanori Gomi hit him with a right hook, and their August UFC bout was over just 64 seconds after it had begun. Having lost a split decision to Evan Dunham less than two months before, it wasn’t the rebound performance Griffin was looking for. It wasn’t even a learning experience.

“I watched and I tried to pick it apart and see if I made a mistake, but I just got caught,” Griffin said during a recent interview on the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown” show. “I could beat myself up over it and say I’ve got to work on this, I’ve got to work on that, but that’s not the case. … I didn’t really take anything away from Gomi. We fight out there with 4-ounce gloves, and anybody can get knocked out. It’s what happened: I got caught. They stopped the fight. It is what it is. I’m not going to complain about it. I think I learned a bigger lesson fighting Evan and getting outpositioned.”

With back-to-back losses to Dunham and Gomi, Griffin has gone from perennial lightweight contender to a prelim fighter who will have to work his way back up the ranks. He’ll try to start the climb Saturday, when he takes on Nik Lentz at UFC 123.

“He’s just a tough, hardnosed fighter,” Griffin said. “He’s a Midwest wrestler, so he’s a grinder. Definitely going to be a tough fight.”

Lentz is 3-0 in the UFC with one draw. However, he came under fire for a boring performance in his most recent bout, a unanimous decision over Andre Winner in August.

“I think against Andre Winner he fought a smart fight,” Griffin said. “Andre Winner’s not a grappler. He fought smart and won. You can’t complain. That’s how I’ve lost all my fights, is getting outwrestled. It is what it is. This is mixed martial arts, and if you want to complain about it, go watch kickboxing. I’m expecting that hardnosed wrestler. If he comes out and grinds on me, that’s what I’m expecting. If he wants to stand and bang with me, then that might be a bad idea for him, but I’m definitely expecting somebody trying to get me on the ground and get me against the fence and grind out a decision.”

Griffin understands Lentz’s potential to win the fight on points. He’s also aware that he can’t let himself get outpositioned, which is how he believes Dunham, an occasional training partner, beat him in June.

“To be 100-percent honest, Dunham has stayed on my back in the gym and I think he knew that he could get there and stay there,” Griffin said. “I was maybe a little too stubborn in not working on that in the camp and thinking that without a T-shirt … he would slip off a lot easier. I wasn’t as sweaty and he wasn’t as sweaty, so it didn’t work out that way. Instead of expecting [Lentz] to slip off, I’ve definitely been working on a lot of stuff. If [Lentz] gets on my back, he’s going to get slammed on his head just like Evan Dunham did, but I definitely don’t plan on letting him stay there for three rounds.”

Whether he was losing position or getting caught with a hook, Griffin believes it was his aggression that hurt him against Gomi and Dunham. That’s not necessarily something he’s going to change, though.

“Being aggressive, I guess, is what makes me make mistakes,” he said. “Being aggressive against Gomi is what got me caught. Things like that, again, that I can’t really overanalyze and try and change who I am. I’ve got to go out there and fight my fight, and whatever happens, happens.”

A third straight loss would put most fighters on the chopping block, but Griffin has been involved in some of the most entertaining matches in UFC history. He’s not worried about getting cut, nor is he concerned with forcing an exciting fight against an opponent who might be inclined to a duller pace if that’s what it takes to win.

“I don’t try to make a fight exciting,” Griffin said. “It just ends up that way. I’ve always thought my biggest weapon is my cardio and pushing the pace, and just leaving all my gas out there is what ends up being exciting. Whether or not he’s trying to stifle me, I’m going to be pushing the pace, as opposed to like with Dunham, where I was kind of hoping he’d slip off. I’m not going to stop for 15 minutes. If he’s planning on stifling me or whatever you want to call it, good luck.”

Listen to the full interview (beginning at 1:20:45) with Griffin, who also discussed fighting teammates like Gray Maynard.

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Karo Parisyan - A Welcome Return

"I’m going for complete domination over Dennis Hallman, and I just want to fight my ass off and do everything I can to show the people that I’m back, I’m still talented, and I can still put on a show. That’s the main part.” You’ve heard it said a thousand times before – and you’re about to hear it again. A fight’s a fight, a crowd’s a crowd, and once the bell rings, all that matters is the opponent standing across from you. But after practically growing up in the UFC since his debut in the organization in 2003, Karo Parisyan admits that it was more than a little strange standing and fighting without those three letters on the marquee this past July.

“There were a lot of people there and it was a good reaction, people yelling and all the same stuff, but to fight for an organization that was not the UFC, and not as big and professional as the UFC, was really weird,” said Parisyan of his bout against Ben Mortimer for Australia’s Impact FC promotion. “But the bottom line is, when you walk in that cage, a fight’s a fight. Whether you’re in the UFC or in some underground fight, a fight’s a fight – you’re gonna punch, you’re gonna kick, you’re gonna go for takedowns and submissions when the time comes.”

That’s just what Parisyan did in his first non-UFC bout since March of 2003. He punched, he kicked, and at 4:18 of the second round, he submitted Mortimer via rear naked choke.

But what brought him to Brisbane was the real story.

A longtime welterweight contender, Parisyan’s bouts with panic attacks had become front page news in the MMA world, and when he pulled out of his UFC 106 match with Dustin Hazelett the day before weigh-ins in 2009, it was expected that his Octagon career was over. Following the UFC 106 debacle, speculation ran rampant about Parisyan’s future and if he would ever fight again. He knew he would, and in the back of his mind he hoped for another shot in the UFC.

“Some people thought there was a chance I would go back; a lot of people thought there would never be a chance for me to go back, but deep in my heart I knew that eventually I was gonna make it back,” he said. “I had some issues that had to get straightened out, and unfortunately it blew up and everybody heard some crap, but the main thing is that I’m back to my old normal self again, mentally and physically, I’m training and I can’t wait to get back and start mixing it up again.”

That’s now. But before he was welcomed back into the fold for a Saturday bout against Dennis Hallman on the preliminary portion of the UFC 123 card, he had to prove that he had everything under control. Thus the fight against Mortimer, and a career-reviving win. Soon after, he received the call he had been waiting for.

“I’m a religious kid and I believe everything happens for a reason,” he said. “God has a plan for everybody on this planet, and it had to happen. I had to learn the hard way in certain ways and I traveled halfway around the world to prove to my fans and people that thought I wasn’t there yet and still had these problems that I could fight a hometown hero, win, and come back home, and that I could still walk in the cage. And that’s what I did.”

But this is not the same Karo Parisyan that last stepped into the Octagon against Dong Hyun Kim in January of 2009. He’s a little older (28) and a lot wiser, especially when it comes to life in the public eye.

“I’ve always said that if you have some kind of name for yourself, there are always gonna be some people who are gonna judge you, some who will say good stuff, some who say bad stuff, and sometimes I try not to let it bother me, but what can you do?” he said. “It was on the internet, the whole world was hearing rumors, and all you can do it sit back, stay focused, stay calm, and try to concentrate on your long-term goals and what you want to do. I still want to fight and I still have a lot more to prove. I’m still young and it’s not over yet.”

It’s certainly not, and it’s amazing that as long as he’s been around the fight game and as much as he’s accomplished, he still hasn’t reached his 30th birthday yet.

“I’ve been fighting for a long time, close to 14, 15 years,” he chuckles. “I’ve been around a long time so I know the game, I’ve seen the game evolve unbelievably, and thank God I’m still young enough to stay in the game and still fight and still win. I’ve got another five, six years that I can fight, easy.”

The next chapter begins Saturday night against Hallman, and it’s a different world than the one he walked away from a year ago. Once the lone Armenian waving the flag for his country in mixed martial arts, now he’s the pioneer for fighters like Manny Gamburyan, Sako Chivitchian, Sevak Magakian, and Karen Darabedyan. But while he had no problem paving the way before; now, he’s doing this for himself.

“I’ve done my job,” he said. “If I get appreciated, great. If I don’t, I don’t really care. In my heart, I did it for them and I’ve tried to help out my friends as much as I can. But at this time now, I just want to fight. Obviously I’m going for complete domination over Dennis Hallman, and I just want to fight my ass off and do everything I can to show the people that I’m back, I’m still talented, and I can still put on a show. That’s the main part.”

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Page Survives Injury Abyss, Eyes WEC 52 Return

Damacio Page (top): Dave Mandel | Sherdog.com

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- While recovering from a shoulder injury that forced him to spend nearly 11 months away from the cage, Damacio Page did whatever he could to fill the crater-sized void in his life that fighting’s absence had created.

The 28-year-old bantamweight referred to the process as “surviving.” He worked on fixing up the houses and properties he owns in Albuquerque. He inked up clients at a local tattoo shop. Most of all, he watched. He watched as the 135-pound mountain in the WEC that he had worked so hard to ascend seemingly got steeper by the month. It was sometimes painful, but Page made the downtime productive.

“It’s real frustrating just watching people passing me for title shot after title shot -- Joseph Benavidez, Dominick Cruz and now Scott Jorgensen. They deserved a shot, [but] I was sidelined just watching it unfold,” he says. “In a way, it’s alright. It’s good because I was able to study everybody that’s fighting. No one knows how I fight anymore. They don’t know that I’ve switched up my style or what I’ve done. Even though it sucks because I couldn’t do anything, it’s good because I was able to study all the other fighters.”

The Jackson’s Mixed Martial Arts product last fought at WEC 43 in October 2009, besting Will Campuzano with a rear-naked choke a little more than a minute into the first round. Originally scheduled to face Eddie Wineland at WEC 52 on Thursday at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Page instead will meet Demetrious Johnson after Wineland withdrew from the bout with a shoulder injury.

Page was disappointed in losing the opportunity to square off against the heavy-handed Wineland, but after such a long layoff, he does not take his new opponent lightly.

“Johnson is a very exciting fighter, too,” Page says. “He’s very quick. He has good boxing. Either way, it’s going to be a great fight. The only thing that’s different is he doesn’t have a name. He’s a guy that’s equally as tough.”

Johnson, a member of the AMC Pankration camp, earned a unanimous decision over Nick Pace at WEC 51. He lost his promotional debut to American Top Team’s Brad Pickett at WEC 48. Page had teammate John Dodson emulate Johnson in camp. Dodson’s compact build and style closely resembles that of the fighter they call “Mighty Mouse.”

“Johnson is more my type of fighter,” Dodson says. “[I have to] be fast on my feet and keep switching my stance. [He] likes to bounce around a lot. [I have to] make sure [Page] sees a fast fighter instead of a power fighter like Wineland was.”

The comparison between Dodson and Johnson does not end with in-cage tendencies. Dodson is ranked 10th on Sherdog’s list of top flyweights, but Page believes Johnson is more comfortable at 125 pounds and will be at a size disadvantage at bantamweight.

“He’s tough. It doesn’t matter; I'm going to treat him like any other fighter,” Page says. “Who knows, he might be the next best thing at 125.”

The recurring nature of his shoulder injury has given “The Angel of Death” a glimpse into his fighting mortality. Most of the time, Page can go 100 percent in training without feeling any adverse effects on his shoulder, on which he underwent two separate surgeries for the torn labrum and partially torn rotator cuff he suffered against Campuzano. Sometimes, it flares up and provides a sobering reminder.

“You’re never 100 percent,” Page says. “I’ve talked to people who had shoulder injuries who got the same surgery. They say you’re not the same for a year, a year-and-a-half. It’s up and down sometimes. Sometimes it gets all inflamed and it hurts. You train hard, then you’re not 100 percent. If you’re not feeling aches and pains everywhere, then you’re not training hard enough.”

Travis Marx, a 135-pounder who came to New Mexico from Jeremy Horn’s Elite Performance team some five months ago, says Page has performed exactly like the WEC star he expected upon his arrival.

“Damacio’s an animal,” Marx says. “I love training with guys like him because they train very intensely and pull no punches. When you go with Damacio, you’ve got to be ready to go. That’s why he’s where he’s at -- because he trains hard and pushes himself.”

Dodson has worked out alongside Page for much longer, and he can see the improvements that have come with the time away.

“He’s coming in strong,” he says. “Since that time off, he’s had time to work more on his jabs, more on his striking, so he can see little areas he needs to work on. It’s actually helped him out tremendously because he’s thinking more. He’s actually getting more hungry for this fight.”

A victory over current number one contender Jorgensen, an 18-second knockout over Marcos Galvao and a quick submission over Campuzano have not satisfied Page.

“There’s not a defining moment yet,” he says. “I haven’t got the title.”

Rather than focus on past achievements, he looks forward to releasing his pent-up aggression against Johnson.

“I’m just gonna go out there and fight with a passion,” he says. “I just think it’s built up a lot more this time around. It was a long year. I’m able to focus all that energy and finally get it out.”

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Weekend Rundown: Aoki Flawless in Deep Return

Dream lightweight champion Shinya Aoki (pictured left) needed exactly 60 seconds to show Thai boxing champion Yokthai Sithoar he was out of his element.

The world-ranked Aoki submitted the mixed martial arts newcomer with a first-round keylock at Deep 50 Impact on Sunday at JCB Hall in Tokyo. The 35-year-old Sithoar, a former World Boxing Association champion at 115 pounds, met his demise one minute into round one.

Aoki closed the distance on the stand-up savant, changed levels, hoisted Sithoar skyward and deposited him in the center of the cage. He passed immediately to side mount and threatened Sithoar with a reverse triangle choke before targeting the arm. Aoki secured the tapout soon after, as the 27-year-old Japanese superstar posted his sixth win in seven fights.

Meanwhile, Deep lightweight king Katsunori Kikuno defended his crown in a majority decision over Pride Fighting Championships veteran Nobuhiro Obiya. Four of the five ringside judges sided with the champion, who rebounded nicely from his split decision defeat to Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante at Dream 15 three months ago.

Kikuno threatened to finish his challenger inside the first round, as he roared out of the gates with a barrage of punches, answered a takedown with one of his own and spent the final minute of the period on Obiya’s back, battering him with punches. Kikuno’s pace slowed, and Obiya capitalized in the third round. He wobbled the champion with punches, reversed into top position during a scramble and mounted Kikuno near the end of the fight. Obiya’s efforts, however, fell short.

Finally, Deep welterweight champion Yuya Shirai retained his title with a unanimous decision over journeyman Shigetoshi Iwase. Shirai has rattled off five consecutive victories since his submission loss to UFC veteran Jason High in the 2009 Dream welterweight grand prix.

Other winners at Deep 50 Impact included Masakazu Imanari (majority decision over Daiki Hata), the prolific Ikuhisa Minowa (first-round armbar submission against Chang Hee Kim), UFC veteran Ryo Chonan (third-round technical knockout over Jun Hee Moon) and former World Extreme Cagefighting bantamweight title contender Yoshiro Maeda (majority decision against Takafumi Otsuka).

Former UFC heavyweight title contender Jeff Monson submitted Travis Fulton with a first-round armbar in the Elite Promotions/Fight Time Promotions “Fight Time 2” headliner on Saturday at Club Cinema in Pompano Beach, Fla. Fulton raised the white flag 4:40 into round one.

A two-time Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championships winner, Monson has won four fights in a row, three of them by submission. The 39-year-old American Top Team representative kept Fulton from his 200th career victory, as he became the first man to submit “The Ironman” inside the first round in more than five years.

Monson, who has secured 24 of his 38 career victories via submission, will face Sergey Shemetov under the Israeli Fight Club banner on Nov. 9 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Surging Russian heavyweight Shamil Abdurahimov stopped Pride and UFC veteran Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou on third-round punches in the semi-finals of the Abu Dhabi Fighting Championship open weight grand prix at ADFC “Battle of the Champions 2” on Friday at Abu Dhabi Hall in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

More than three years removed from back-to-back knockouts against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Ricardo Arona, Sokoudjou has thus far fallen short of the enormous expectations that had been placed upon him. The 26-year-old Team Quest representative will carry a two-fight losing streak into his next appearance. The once-beaten Abdurahimov has pieced together a streak of five consecutive wins.

Other winners at “Battle of the Champions 2” included 2009 world grappling champion Marcos Oliveira (unanimous decision over Neil Wain) and King of the Cage veteran Jake Short (second-round arm-triangle choke submission against Abdullah Hamdan). Oliveira will meet Abdurahimov in the grand prix final in 2011.

Shooto veteran Tom Niinimaki earned a unanimous decision against Dave Hill in the Turku Fight 2 main event on Saturday at Caribia Hall in Turku, Finland. Niinimaki has won five in a row since losing consecutive matches to Danny Batten, the world-ranked Hatsu Hioki and Tristan Yunker … Journeyman Daisuke Hanazawa submitted Sengoku veteran Seung Hwan Bang with a first-round rear-naked choke at Road Fighting Championship 1 “The Resurrection of Champions” on Saturday at the Seoul Fashion Center in Seoul, South Korea … Pride veteran Daisuke Sugie posted a unanimous decision against Shin Kochiwa at Shooto “Gig Central 21” on Sunday at the Asunai Kanayama Hall in Nagoya, Japan. Sugie, who owns victories over Kultar Gill and Mitsuhiro Ishida, has rattled off three wins in four appearances.

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