In addition to already feeling less than optimal throughout the weight cutting process, Parisian said he could only sleep three hours a night and that he had a hard time even drinking or eating. On fight night, Parisian weighed himself at the UFC APEX and was eight pounds lighter than his official weight at Friday’s weigh-ins. And to make matters worse, even after rewatching the fight, Parisian believes in his core that he should’ve had his hand raised on fight night.
“What I took away from it was how well my conditioning has developed and how my composure is coming together,” Parisian said. “I was very concerned about what I had. I didn’t know how hard I could push with all things considered. I didn’t push it hard in the first round, pushed it a little bit more in the second, and the third round is when I finally took him down and spent more energy. I didn’t know what I had, so I didn’t want to go in there and be dead in the first round and lose. I was trying to be conservative. But I know even with all that, I had the condition to go all three rounds with a guy like that. I believe I won the fight. Now I’m coming in and I feel amazing; I’ve been eating, sleeping, I’m hydrated.”
Saturday’s Full Fight Card Breakdown
As of Thursday afternoon, when Parisian sat down with UFC.com, he said he feels the best he ever has in his career, and that he’s coming off an 16-week training camp that’s produced the best version of Josh Parisian to date.
Originally scheduled to fight Walt Harris in July, Parisian was left without a dance partner when Harris was removed from the bout by USADA for potential anti-doping violations. Coming off a 12-week camp for Harris, Parisian continued training, hoping to hear from the UFC about a new opponent.
Fortunately for Parisian, he didn’t have to wait long. Martin Buday needed an opponent for this Saturday at UFC Fight Night: Luque vs Dos Anjos, and Parisian was more than ready to accept on short notice.
