Sherdog has the details on how Karo Parisyan went from being on Dana White’s blacklist to back in the UFC:

“Karo Parisyan has f—ed over the UFC, the fans and his opponent again!!!” tweeted White. “He will not be fighting Saturday or ever again in the UFC!!”
“Ever again” does not always last that long for White, a frequent advocate of second chances. Three months later, Parisyan received a call out of the blue from the UFC boss.
“How are you, kid?” White asked.
White and Parisyan spoke about what had happened and what led to Parisyan’s decision to withdraw from the Hazelett macth. Parisyan had a six-fight deal on the table from Strikeforce, but White recommended he only sign a three-fight deal with the San Jose, Calif.-based promotion. Parisyan told White he was not interested in signing with Strikeforce at all and would instead take one fight in Australia for Impact FC.
“I know Dana White,” Parisyan says. “Deep down he’s a nice guy. He’s a hothead; I’m a hothead. In the heat of the moment, you say stuff you later regret. I knew eventually I’d come back. You’ll never find a judo guy with throws like me. He told me everyone deserves a second chance: ‘Karo, I’ve always liked you.’”

But forgiving is not forgetting:

Parisyan also received a warning from White: “If you screw me again, Karo, I swear to God, never talk to me again.”

So long as Karo walks into the cage this weekend against Dennis Hallman, he won’t be screwing Dana. But will he be screwing himself? Sergio Non over at USA Today mentioned our “Is Karo Parisyan Still A Mess” post when interviewing Karo, asking him if he’s really got his shit together:

When people judge, it’s very simple. It’s human nature. I’m a hypocrite myself; I can judge in a matter of seconds something too. … But the truth is, you don’t judge that simple. If anybody has had a full-blown panic attack and an anxiety attack and has had pressure to take care of your family and doing all this and doing all that, and all of a sudden everything being taken away from you — how do you react to that? How?

People have killed themselves having half of the (stuff) that I went through. I’m not being cocky. I’m not being (a jerk). I’m being honest here. In the past two years I’ve been through stuff. I’ve been through hell and I’ve been back. People don’t know what I went through. “Karo is a mess.” I might have been a mess. I might still be a mess in a certain way. But I’m trying to put that leg forward.

I went halfway around the world in Australia. Fought a local town hero. Beat him in his own house, in his own game, and then came back home. That was something to prove. I proved something. … So I took a big step.

You have to understand, people that have panic attacks, they don’t want to leave the house. They feel like they’re going to die. Whoever has been through what I’m telling you, with this disease, let’s just say, they know exactly what I’m talking about.

And I want them to imagine themselves, that when they’re having that anxiety, and they’re feeling their heart is going to pop, and their brain is racing, and they cannot sit down — I want them to think about, at the same time, you have to warm up because they’re waiting for you out there, because you’ve got to walk out and fight a guy that’s in a great gym whos going to take your head off in the cage.

Speaking of great gyms, Karo said he wishes he was still with Xtreme Couture in Vegas but it doesn’t sound like he had the money to put it together. So instead he’s settled into a smaller camp close to home with some of his Armenian buddies and old training partners. Hey, at least he’s actually training this time.