5 Things You Might Not Know About Josh Parisian

Josh Parisian does not yet have a defined role with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

The heavy-handed West Virginia native will attempt to improve upon a middling 2-2 record within the promotion when he dukes it out with Syndicate MMA export Jamal Pogues in a three-round UFC Fight Night 219 heavyweight showcase on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Parisian, 33, enters the cage with some momentum on his side. He last appeared at UFC on ESPN 38, where he rebounded from a technical knockout loss to Don’Tale Mayes and brought down Alan Baudot with punches in the second round of their June 25 encounter.

As Parisian approaches his forthcoming battle with Pogues in Sin City, here are five things you might not know about him:

1. He grew from small-town roots.

Parisian was born on June 28, 1989 in Martinsburg, West Virginia—a city of roughly 19,000 people situated some 80 miles northwest of Washington, D.C. It was once home to Hack Wilson, the Chicago Cubs outfielder who, in 1930, set Major League Baseball’s all-time single-season record with 191 runs batted in.

2. His bouts tend to render judges obsolete.

Sixteen of Parisian’s 20 career bouts—13 of his 15 wins and three of his five defeats—have resulted in finishes. He has gone the distance four times, his victories over Roque Martinez and Nathan Bryant offset by losses to Parker Porter and Ryan Pokryfky.

3. Persistence paid off for him.

The 6-foot-4, 265-pound heavyweight needed two wins on Dana White’s Contender Series to nail down his UFC contract. Parisian knocked out Greg Rebello with a spinning backfist in 91 seconds during Week 3 in 2019, then punched out Chad Johnson in less than four minutes during Week 3 in 2020.

4. Reality bit him in the rear end.

Parisian competed on Season 28 of “The Ultimate Fighter” in July 2018, only to be eliminated by 2008 Olympian Michel Batista in the heavyweight quarterfinals. Batista went on to lose to Justin Frazier by first-round technical knockout in the semifinals.

5. An upper-Midwest work ethic has been engrained in him.

Parisian operates out of the Scorpion Fighting System outfit in Brighton, Michigan, where he has shared the mats with four-time UFC bonus winner Michel Pereira and former Invicta Fighting Championships atomweight titleholder Alesha Zappitella, among others.