Karo Parisyan, on “Beatdown,” discussing whether he was anxious while walking to the cage to fight Ron Keslar at Bellator 116:

“I honestly felt much better than I have in many, many years. I don’t know why. I really don’t know why. I guess my brain endorphins were all awake and they were all excited. I felt very calm. The pressure on me for this fight was, I swear to God, unbearable. It was agonizing. Let’s just put it that way. I knew that if the fight didn’t go my way, I was going to lose my contract with Bellator and I was going to be like, ‘What do I do? I’ve got to look for something else because it’s not going my way, this fight game all of a sudden.’ But at the same time, I had that calmness in me like I know what I can do. … I felt pretty calm. I actually felt my legs underneath me. I was able to walk and feel what I was doing for the first time in about five years.”

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