However, since then it has been a downward spiral for the Armenian-American competitor including a battle with addiction, an anxiety disorder, and subpar performances. Since 2008 Parisyan is 1-4 including losses in his last three fights, the most recent of which came this past September where he fell by Split Decision to rising prospect Jordan Smith.

Another chapter to the sad story of an athlete who seemingly peeked in his early 20s was written recently in an interview with Fightline where Parisyan opened up about the current state of his life where he frankly admitted his head/heart haven’t been in MMA for some time and said things in general are rough at the moment.

“I’m known for doing interviews, opening up to people and telling them what the hell’s going on, but it’s not going to change anything if I have five more people feel f–king sorry for me,” Parisyan began before continuing, “Man, it’s pretty bad. I don’t even care anymore. Right now, I’m in the worst time of my life. With Christmas and New Year’s…I’m in the worst time financially – but, you know what? It’s gonna be good. I never cry about it, I’m not gonna cry about it. I’m gonna do what I have to do to come back. I’m a grown ass man and enough is enough. For the time being, my head is just with the family. Trying to get by, trying to have a Christmas and trying to have a New Year’s and see what 2012 f***ing brings.”

“I guess enough is enough,” Parisyan said of his stalled career. “I’ve got to either come back and really give it my all, or f***ing hang up the gloves and stop embarrassing myself.”

Asked to elaborate, Parisyan explained, “For the first time in three and a half years, I would have to look at everything in a serious way again. Before, I looked at it in a very serious fashion. It was my lifestyle. This sport was my lifestyle, it wasn’t my job. When it becomes your job, that’s when you start hating it. Who the f*** likes their job? I mean, you can say, ‘I love my job,’ but when it comes down to it, eventually you’re going to be like, ‘Ugh, I don’t want to go to work today.’ When it comes down to a job, I don’t want to do this sh*t no more. I’ve just gotta turn it into a lifestyle.”

“Back in the day, this sport was a lifestyle for me,” the 19-8 Parisyan reflected. “I’d wake up in the morning and it’s, ‘Hey, do you wanna go run for seven miles?’ ‘Yeah, let’s go.’ And we’d go run for seven f**kin’ miles. Why? Because that’s all we knew how to do, is to train. It was bred into us since we were kids, eight years old – bred. Everyday, training, hurting your opponent, dismantle, hit, hit, break – it was all we did, it was a lifestyle. We did all this stuff because we wanted to, not because we had to. When it started to get to the point where I have to, is when I started not liking it.”

Parisyan concluded things by stating he hoped to fight in February or March with the possibility of his involvement in a yet-to-be-announced tournament but stated nothing official had been signed while also praising Ronda Rousey for bringing judo back to the forefront of fans’ collective conscience.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Karo Parisyan, who was told he would never fight again in the UFC by promotional president Dana White after withdrawing from a scheduled bout at the last second, has apparently been given a chance to redeem himself on MMA’s biggest stage and will return to the Octagon on November 20th at UFC 123.

News of Parisyan’s homecoming was reported by MMAFighting.

Parisyan’s opponent at the event is set to be Dennis Hallman. Hallman most recently defeated Ben Saunders by decision at UFC 117 and is a veteran of sixty professional MMA bouts. The 34-year old is 45-13-2 in his career with his most famous wins coming a decade-plus ago in a pair of bouts against welterweight icon Matt Hughes.

“The Heat” has gone 1-0 since parting ways with the UFC in early 2009 with a second-round submission of Ben Mortimer at an “Impact FC” event this past July. Prior to the win, Parisyan was 8-2 in his previous ten bouts with one “No Contest” as well due to testing positive for painkiller use after his UFC 94 fight with Dong Hyun Kim. He is 19-5 as a pro and considered one of the top judokas ever at 170-pounds.

UFC 123 is scheduled to take place at the Palace of Auburn Hills just outside Detroit, Michigan. The event is currently set to be headlined by a clash of light heavyweight contenders Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Lyoto Machida.

Karo discussed a variety of topics surrounding his recent dismisal from the UFC in a recent conversation with HyeFighters.com. You can check out the video below:

FiveOuncesofPain.com

This afternoon Dana relayed via his Twitter account that this Saturday evening’s anticipated UFC 106 showdown between Karo and fellow submission specialist Dustin Hazelett had been cancelled, stating, “Pulled out of the fight the day before weigh ins again with a laundry list of excuses!!! Let the press ask karo why! Let him explain”.

When contacted in pursuit of the real story behind the recent situation concerning his close friend, Melanson first spoke with Karo in order to get his blessing for the true facts to come out. As the age old saying goes, “the truth shall set you free”.

“Karo’s had some problems with an addiction to pain medicine due to an injury he sustained a few years ago,” began Melanson, who essentially began training under Karo Parisyan years ago while under the guidance of grappling legend Gokor Chivichyan in L.A., only to evolve to a point with his own grappling where he eventually became the teacher. “Then when he started having these anxiety problems, it didn’t seem like the anxiety pills were helping him. The only thing that was helping him was the pain medication that he had been taking for his injuries. That’s when he just started down that slope.

“It’s just one of those situations where you have two guys that sit down to have a drink, and you have one guy that can go home and he’s fine, and the other guy has to go out and get wasted every single time because he’s an alcoholic. I think that maybe with the pills, that Karo is the second guy. Maybe he’s the guy that can’t take them here and there, or can’t use them effectively. It’s really hard on him.”

According to Neil, Karo had a plan to do things the right way this time around. A plan that, for so many reasons that could be extremely difficult for a person that hasn’t suffered from one form of addiction or another to understand, just didn’t seem to work out the way he had thought it would. That huge invisible monster that is chemical dependency had a plan of it’s own for the tormented Judo specialist that never seemed to take a backwards step during his years spent inside of the UFC’s Octagon fencing.

“He came out and saw me recently for a couple of days, and I still thought he had a little ways to go, but he looked, probably the best I’ve seen him in a year,” explained Melanson. “I was really optimistic about this fight. I was like, ‘This guy is back with it. He seems like he has a really good chance here’. Then I got caught up training Randy [Couture] during that time and he couldn’t make it out. He didn’t make it out to Greg Jackson’s either. I talked to his camp and they said that he was kind of hit or miss. If he showed up he looked pretty good, but for the most part he wouldn’t show up. So he’s had some problems.

“He told me that he was on pain medicine, but he wanted to get off. He had a plan and he was working his way to get off of it. About a month ago he was taking about half the amount that he usually does and he was pretty optimistic. He was really trying to push it. He was going through some withdrawals and he would try to push it as hard as he could to get off the stuff. He really had a plan to be off three weeks prior to the fight and he really wanted to clean up. He really wanted to do this right. It was really important to him and his family. I hadn’t spoken to him for just a little bit, and I guess he tried, but he couldn’t.

“He contacted me and told me about the situation, and I said, ‘Look, just sleep on it and we’ll talk about it tomorrow’. I met with Greg Jackson and we had a little conversation about everything. From there I called Karo and I just told him, ‘Well you’re better off being honest now than piss testing and getting in trouble with the commission’. He did the right thing there and told them. He messed up, but people shouldn’t hate him for it. The guy has a legit problem right now. He did the right thing; he didn’t cheat, he didn’t lie, he didn’t do anything wrong. He just had a problem that he tried to overcome and he couldn’t do it. I think that everybody can sympathize with that. Karo has put on great shows in the past, and I think that he felt a lot of pressure to do that again.”

While it can often be so easy to point the finger at what can be perceived to be the bad guy, often times the “bad guy” is nothing more than a man being tormented by demons and forces seemingly beyond his personal control.

“My heart goes out to him,” said Melanson. “I know he’s suffering right now. With the UFC dropping him, he’s a mess. He’s a complete mess. Just imagine what it’s like to have an addiction problem, and to lose everything like this all in one day. But at the end of the day he still did the right thing by coming clean and not trying to test, or fight, or lie, or anything like that. So before people start hating on him I hope they realize that when push came to shove, he did the right thing.

“He could have disrespected the sport by going out there and fighting. A lot of people try to beat the test somehow. He could have done a lot of things to make the sport look bad. He could have done that because he was greedy, or because he needed money, or whatever it was, but instead he did the right thing and he didn’t make the UFC look like jerks by testing dirty. I know Dana is saying some things right now because he’s really upset about it, but Dana cares about him. Dana has always been really good to him. I know he’s probably pretty upset, and I would be too. He’s pulled out of a couple of fights before, and if you’re a promoter that would piss you off pretty bad.

“Once he gets cleaned up and back on his feet, he’ll probably go out there and compete. If it’s not with the UFC it will be somewhere else. If Karo got clean and worked hard he’d be back in the top five again. He was ranked in the top five for his weight class for over three years. You don’t do that by being a slouch.”

While Karo never needed anyone to help him out inside of the cage during countless wars staged with the likes of Georges St. Pierre, Nick Diaz, Diego Sanchez or Matt Serra, God knows the 27 year old Armenian born mixed martial arts phenom needs help from elsewhere during his current, and most important fight.

Hopefully close friends like Neil Melanson and a tight nit family can give Karo the positive reinforcement and energy it’s going to take for the naturally gifted fighter to return to his old form of one of the most feared 170 pound fighters in the business; and if not that, at least to a place where he can rid himself of the shackles of chemical dependency and allow him to truly live once again.

Dana White

According to White, “Pulled out of the fight the day before weigh ins again with a laundry list of excuses!!! Let the press ask karo why! Let him explain.”

Well FiveOuncesofPain.com has had the opportunity to ask why.

Longtime friend and training partner to Karo, along with being the head Jiu-Jitsu instructor down at Xtreme Couture, Neil Melanson recently received Parisyan’s blessing to clear the air regarding the circumstances surrounding his recent withdraw from Saturday evening’s card.

Karo Parisyan has suffered from a brutal battle with an addiction to pain-killers for some time now. The Armenian born Judo specialist was first introduced to the widely addictive drugs following a severe hamstring injury sustained training for a scheduled welterweight title clash with Matt Hughes that never came to fruition. A long series of injuries following the injury that prevented what would have been the biggest fight of his career has created the monster that currently haunts Karo today.

Check back with FiveOuncesofPain.com shortly as we will have a much more expansive explanation of the details surrounding Karo’s removal from UFC 106 as explained through close friend Neil Melanson in the coming hours.

Karo Parisyan

White posted the news on his Twitter account about thirty minutes ago, stating:

Karo Parisyan has fucked over the UFC, the fans and his opponent again!!! He will not be fighting saturday or ever again in the UFC!!

Fans may recall a similar situation at UFC 88 when “The Heat” stepped down just prior to the weigh-ins when scheduled to take on Yoshiyuki Yoshida. And, though he was initially victorious against Dong Hyun Kim at UFC 94 in his next fight, the Nevada State Athletic Commission changed the result to a “no contest” a few months later when it had been determined Parisyan tested positive for a number of banned painkillers.

Apparently Parisyan removed himself from UFC 106 at some point today. The exact reasoning behind Karo’s withdraw from the card will likely be surfacing shortly. According to Dana:

Pulled out of the fight the day before weigh ins again with a laundry list of excuses!!! Let the press ask karo why! Let him explain.

Stay tuned to 5 Oz. for updates on this still developing situation

Sources close to the bout have recently confirmed to MMAWeekly.com that both fighters have agreed to the match-up.

UFC 106 is set for November 21 in Las Vegas, Nevada, and will air live on pay-per-view. The card is expected to feature a heavyweight championship bout between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin as the headliner, with a light-heavyweight contest between Tito Ortiz and Mark Coleman as the co-headliner.

A Judo master crafted under the guidance of grappling legends Gokor Chivichyan and Gene Lebell, Parisyan has established himself as a constant force in the UFC’s welterweight division since his arrival in 2003, putting up an impressive record of 8-3-1 during his time spent in the Octagon. Parisyan’s most recent decision victory over Dong Hyun-Kim was overturned after it was revealed that Karo had tested positive for banned pain-killers following the bout.

Hazelett, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, has picked up the coveted “Submission of the Night” in both of his prior appearances in the Octagon. With a UFC record of 5-2, Hazelett has bested highly regarded fighters such as Josh Burkman and Tamdan McCrory in recent outings.

According to Morgan, NSAC has formally suspended Parisyan for nine months and has issued a 40 percent fine of his purse coming out of UFC 94. The long-time UFC veteran received a total of $80,000 for his win over Kim with $40,000 coming in the form of a guarantee and the other $40,000 being paid as a win bonus. Based on the percentage assessed to Parisyan’s disclosed payout, his fine will total $32,000.

Additionally, the NSAC board of commissioners has overturned Parisyan’s split decision victory over Kim and declared the official result of the bout a no contest. As a result, Parisyan’s record has been reduced from 19-5 to 18-5. Meanwhile, Kim’s undefeated record will be restored as he is now 11-0-1.

It was first reported on Feb. 10 that Parisyan had tested positive for the presence of hydrocodone, hydromorphone and oxymorphone in his system. Initially, Parisyan claimed he disclosed to NSAC before his fight that he had taken the prescribed medications prior to his fight but NSAC Executive Director Keith Kizer contradicted that statement and claimed that Parisyan only disclosed his use of the medications until after his fight and only once he was instructed he had to undergo a random post-fight drug screening.

According to Morgan’s report, NSAC representative felts that the high level of pain killers in Parisyan’s system — 3,551 ng/mL of oxymorphone and 4,654 ng/mL of hydrocodone — possibly gave him an unfair advantage in his fight vs. Kim by increasing his tolerance to pain.

Parisyan was suspended following his bout at UFC 94 when his post fight urine test came back positive for pain killers Hyrdocodone, Oxycodone and Hydromorphone. The commission held a meeting yesterday afternoon in which Parisyan was present and came to the conclusion that they would be unable to conduct a full hearing at that time. NSAC determined that both sides would benefit from having more time to put their cases together.

Parisyan stated that he would welcome the opportunity to tell his side of the story when the hearing takes place sometime in March. Whatever punishment is deemed necessary would be recommended at that time. Parisyan told the commission that he was at fault and that he did not properly read the instructions they had given him. He has gone on record about his use of prescription drugs following what has been a difficult year in and out of the octagon.

Once the positive test came to light Parisyan told MMAWeekly that he had taken pain medication for a various assortment of injuries that he had sustained over the last three years. He was scheduled to fight Yoshiyuki Yoshida last August at UFC 88 but was forced to withdraw just one day before due to an injury to his sciatic nerve. He was also set to face then welterweight champion Matt Hughes in November of 2005 at UFC 56 for Hughes title but he tore is hamstring and was forced to withdraw from that bout as well.

What is at issue here is Parisyan’s failure to notify the commission of his use of painkillers before his fight at UFC 94. It was only at the post fight drug test that he told NSAC official Tony Lato that he had taken pain medication the night of the weigh-ins. Parisyan was quoted as saying he wasn’t even thinking about the pills and that he was only focused on his fight and about his bouts with anxiety that he had revealed late last year. He just wanted to get out there and fight and wasn’t focused on anything else including disclosing the medications that he had been taking.

Parisyan went on to say that once the fight was over his head was clear and after he had a chance to calm down he remembered to tell the officials about his prescriptions. He completely understand that is his fault. He further added that he planned on coming out and telling the whole truth to the commission in March and that he hoped it didn’t affect his upcoming fight with Josh Koshcheck at UFC 98.

According to NSAC, unacceptable levels of Hydrocodone, Hydromorphone and Oxymorphone were all detected in Parisyan’s system.

Hydrocodone is a semi-synthetic opioid derived from two of the naturally-occurring opiates codeine and thebaine. It is marketed, in its varying forms, under a number of trademarks, including Vicodin, Symtan, Anexsia, Dicodid, Hycodan (or generically Hydromet), Hycomine, Hycet, Lorcet, Lortab, Norco, Novahistex, Hydrovo, Duodin, Kolikodol, Orthoxycol, Mercodinone, Synkonin, Norgan, and Hydrokon. Depending on its form and toxicity, Hydrocodone can be used as a narcotic.

Hydromorphone is a potent centrally-acting analgesic drug of the opioid class; it is a derivative of morphine, specifically a hydrogenated ketone thereof—therefore a semi-synthetic drug and both an opiate and a true narcotic.

Oxymorphone is related to morphine in the same fashion that oxycodone is to codeine, is derived from thebaine, and is approximately 6–8 times more potent than morphine. It differs from morphine in its effects all other things being equal in that it generates more euphoria, but less itching and other histamine effects. Depending on the individual patient, it can be either more or less nausea- and vomit-inducing than morphine.

Parisyan will likely be called before the commission and could face both a fine and a suspension. NSAC Executive Director Keith Kizer also indicated to Five Ounces of Pain that Parisyan’s win over Kim could potentially be ruled a no contest.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com learned of the potential matchup from a source close to Parisyan, who indicated that the UFC mainstay has already begun preparations for the bout.

Koscheck is scheduled to face undefeated Brazilian Paulo Thiago at UFC 95 in a featured bout that will be televised on Spike TV. If Koscheck is victorious then it would clear the way for the proposed fight against Parisyan to be officially added to the card for UFC 98.

Parisyan returned in January at UFC 94 following a nine month layoff. Facing South Korean standout Dong Hyun Kim, the native Armenian won a split decision victory to improve to 19-5 overall and 9-3 lifetime in the UFC.

UFC 95 will mark Koscheck’s first bout since a first round knockout against Yoshiyuki Yoshida during December’s “UFC Fight for the Troops” event in Fayetteville, North Carolina. With the win, the former NCAA All-American wrestler improved to 12-3 overall and 10-3 lifetime in the UFC.

In addition to the possible Parisyan vs. Koscheck matchup, UFC 98 will reportedly be headlined by Brock Lesnar defending his UFC heavyweight title against interim UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir. Other reported matchups include Matt Serra vs. Matt Hughes; Sean Sherk vs. Frankie Edgar; Andre Gusmao vs. Houston Alexander; James Irvin vs. Drew McFedries; Phillipe Nover vs. Kyle Bradley; and George Roop vs. Dave Kaplan.

Update: This story was published before the NSAC had revealed that Parisyan had tested positive for pain killers following his UFC 94 bout. Parisyan could be subject to a suspension that might make him ineligible to fight Koscheck at UFC 98.

Tri-Star, headed by Firas Zahabi, could be adding a few more fighters to its stable of viable world-class competitors, which currently includes St. Pierre, David Loiseau, Denis Kang and Jonathan Goulet.

Coming off the heels of an uninspiring split decision win over Dong Hyun Kim at UFC 94, judo wizard Karo “The Heat” Parisyan will be making his way down to Tri-Star to do some training with conditioning coach Jonathan Chaimberg and head instructor Zahabi.

Also slated to make his way down to the “Beautiful Province” for training is Team Sityodtong member Kenny Florian, who looks to benefit from a full training camp with Zahabi and St-Pierre before taking on Penn for the lightweight title later this year.

The news was confirmed by Zahabi and Chaimberg at Tri-Star Gym on Friday.

In addition to the aforementioned UFC competitors, Tri-Star is home to many of the sport’s most promising young prospects, including John Makdessi, Thierry Quenneville and Mike Ricci, all three of whom will be competing at XMMA 7 on Feb. 27.

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on TheFightNetwork.com and appears on FiveOuncesOfPain.com with expressed permission.

Scheduled once again to return this Saturday at UFC 94 in a televised bout against South Korean fighter Dong Hyun Kim, there are now questions yet again as to whether Parisyan might be scratched. FiveOuncesOfPain.com learned earlier this week that multiple agents had been approached by the UFC in an attempt to secure a standby replacement in the event Parisyan arrived to Las Vegas in no condition to compete.

On the heels of that revelation comes a report by MMAMania.com that welterweight competitor Rick Story has been enlisted to stand by for a possible fight vs. Kim in the event that Parisyan is either forced to withdraw from UFC 94 or decides to pull out.

As of Thursday afternoon, FiveOuncesOfPain.com had communicated with a source close to the fight that had indicated current expectations were that Parisyan would be able to compete but that the UFC was simply looking to have some insurance in order to prepare for any last minute issues.

Parisyan, 18-5, has stated on the record in past interviews that he suffers from panic attacks and that the condition has impacted his ability to prepare properly for fights. At the time of the revelation, the 26-year old had indicated that he was treating the condition with medication.

If Story’s services are not utilized on Saturday, there is a good chance he could compete for the promotion during a future event. With a record of 7-2 and notable wins over Brandon Melendez, Jake Ellenberger, and Ryan Healy, Story is considered to be one of the top welterweight prospects currently not fighting in the UFC.

Karo Parisyan

A rumored welterweight matchup between former UFC welterweight title contender Karo Parisyan and Korean sensation Dong Hyun Kim has been officially added to the UFC 94 main card, according to the UFC’s official web site.

Parisyan, a former Junior National Judo Champion, has not fought since April 2 at UFC Fight Night 13, where he was TKO’d against Thiago Alves at 0:34 of round 2.

The Armenian native had been scheduled to compete at UFC 88 in September against Yoshiyuki Yoshida but he was scratched from the card just days prior to the event after it was determined he was in no condition to compete.

Nicknamed “The Stun Gun,” Kim is 11-0-1 overall and 2-0 since signing with the UFC following an 7-0-1 stint with the Japan-based DEEP promotion.

Making his debut at UFC 84 this past May, Kim TKO’d Jason Tan via elbows at 0:25 of round 1. He returned at UFC 88, where he recorded a split decision victory over Matt Brown.

UFC 94 take place on Saturday, January 31 and will emanate from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The event will be headlined by Georges St. Pierre defending his UFC welterweight title against current UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn.

Additional matchups for the card include the return of Stephan Bonnar taking light heavyweight prospect Jon Jones, Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva, Jon Fitch vs. Akihiro Gono, Clay Guida vs. Nate Diaz, Christian Wellisch vs. Jake O’Brien, Manny Gamburyan vs. Thiago Tavares, and Dan Cramer vs. Matt Arroyo.

With only slightly more than 24 hours before the card is scheduled to take place in Atlanta at the Phillips Arena, the UFC has scrapped the bout entirely and will not find a replacement for Yoshida. UFC 88 will now go on as a nine bout card as opposed to the previous ten scheduled bouts.

It is believed that the Parisyan vs. Yoshida fight had been one of the five fights scheduled to appear on this weekend’s pay-per-view portion of the card. The UFC did not immediately announce which bout from its preliminary card it intended to promote to the main card but the most logical candidates would be a welterweight bout between Matt Brown vs. Dong Hyun Kim or a lightweight bout between Kurt Pellegrino and Thiago Tavares.

Parisyan’s late removal from the card will no doubt fuel much speculation on Internet forums. He has been accused in the past of not training properly for his fights and he has admitted in recent interviews that he recently sought treatment for panic attacks.

Based on Parisyan’s recent revelation and his reputation for coming into fights with less than ideal preparation, several pundits had been picking Yoshida to upset him.

Yoshida made his UFC debut at UFC 84 in May, where he won via technical submission against Jon “War Machinda” Koppenhaver just 56 seconds into their fight after applying an anaconda choke. The victory extended his win streak to nine.

Dan Henderson, coming off a loss to Anderson Silva in March, will be stepping back into the cage against one of the UFC’s most highly touted international talents, Rousimar “Toquinho” Palhares. Henderson will be looking for his first victory inside the UFC since coming over after the collapse PRIDE. Toquinho recently steamrolled Ivan Salaverry in his UFC debut with a very slick armbar.

Rich Franklin, the former UFC middleweight champion, will be facing off against fellow Cincinnati fighter Matt Hamill in a battle at light heavyweight. Franklin is coming off a victory over Travis Lutter at UFC 83 and will be fighting at light heavyweight for the first time since he fought Ken Shamrock at the first ever Ultimate Fighter Finale. Matt Hamill recently beat Tim Boetsch at UFC Fight Night 13 in April and will be looking to make it two in a row since his loss to Michael Bisping last year.

Karo Parisyan will be looking to prove to the world that he’s still top shelf in the UFC’s most talented division when he takes on one of the best Japanese stars that the UFC has signed in recent months, Yoshiyuki Yoshida. Parisyan is coming off a knockout loss to Thiago Alves at UFC Fight Night 13, a fight that would have catapulted him into title contention should he have won. Yoshida recently made his UFC debut, throttling Jon Koppenhaver at UFC 84 in the opening moments of round one.

These three fights are an excellent addition to the card and it looks like UFC 88, even without a title fight, is shaping up to be one of the better events all year.

Danzig is fresh out of TUF Season 6 and has a 2-0 record in the UFC with wins over Tommy Speer and, most recently, Mark Bocek.

This fight will be a Danzig’s first real test in the UFC, as Clay Guida has traded with the best of the UFC’s lightweight division. Guida is 3-3 in the organization so far, with wins over Marcus Aurelio and Samy Schiavo.

The bout between Danzig and Guida will go down August 9 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Check back with Five Ounces of Pain for more UFC 87 content as it becomes known!

Guida has gone 2-3 in the UFC against very tough opponents, with his latest appearance being a 3rd round submission loss to Roger Huerta at the Ultimate Fighter 6 Finale.

Schiavo fights outs of French Top Team and is riding a 6 fight win streak.

This fight will be another entertaining match up on what is looking to be a very stacked UFC Fight Night. Other rumored bouts for the card include.

• Kenny Florian vs. Joe Lauzon -Confirmed
• Stephan Bonnar vs. Matt Hamill – Confirmed
• Spencer Fisher vs. Marcus Aurelio
• Karo Parisyan vs. Thiago Alves
• Din Thomas vs. Josh Neer
• Tommy Speer vs. Anthony Johnson
• Clay Guida vs. Samy Schiavo

And the ratings are solid.

The average rating for the three hour telecast was a 1.8 (1.7 million viewers) with a 2.7 rating (769,000) with males between the ages of 18-34, a 2.8 rating (471,00) with males between the ages of 25-34, and a 2.2 rating (1.2 million) with males between the ages of 18-49.

Spike is touting in the release that the telecast “delivered” a total of 2.5 million viewers.

It’s interesting to note that the telecast peaked at 11:30 p.m. ET during the main event between Roger Huerta and Clay Guida with a total of 2.9 million viewers.  That’s pretty impressive when you consider that the Floyd Mayweather vs. Ricky Hatton PPV had already started by that time and that there was stiff competition on basic cable at that time with A&E showing “The Matrix” and TNT airing “Gladiator.”

Based on these results, I don’t think the UFC will ever hesitate to go head-to-head with boxing no matter how big the main event is.

“I was hurt. He rocked me, man” Huerta said. “I was slightly knocked out but I knew what was going on. I just heard this ringing, and it was the weirdest thing, all I saw was all this hair, I didn’t know if it was a human being or a lion attacking me, then after about 10 seconds I was like ‘Hey Clay’ and it was back on.”

According to Dave Doyle of Yahoo! Sports all judges gave Clay Guida the first two rounds of the bout, including one judge who had scored the fight 20-17 before Huerta’s rear-naked choke victory in the third round.

So Huerta seems to be pretty resilient, but he was definitely losing the fight before his explosion of energy in the third round. We’ll see if “El Matador” will be able to have the same luck when he faces more elite opponents in the future.