Las Vegas, NV — Josh Parisian wants to go out and have fun at UFC Vegas 57, something he hasn’t been doing.
Three fights into his UFC career and Parisian had hit a major wall. He had spent several years grinding to get to the UFC, and when he finally got to the biggest fight promotion in the world, it wasn’t what he expected. It was beyond stressful, and he wasn’t having fun doing the thing he has been doing professionally since 2014.
“So far [in my UFC career], I honestly am not very happy with my performances. Even with my victory, I wasn’t really happy with it. And I think it’s because I have made being in the UFC and fighting my full-time job. It put a lot of pressure on me, it was a lot of, ‘I have to win, I have to do this, this is what I do to feed my kid, this is how I’m going to pay my bills.’ It put a lot of pressure on me, and I felt so many nerves before all of my fights, way more than I’ve ever had. And I think I have like 50 fights,” Parisian told the media, including Cageside Press, during his UFC Vegas 57 media day appearance.
“And I at first just thought it was because I was in the UFC. But I realized it’s not necessarily that,” he continued. “It’s just because I made it my job. And it’s no longer the fun thing that I used to do anymore. So, since then I’ve made some changes; I’ve got a new thing where I’m making money. And now this can be the fun thing I do for fun now, it doesn’t have to be the thing that I provide for my family and all that stuff.”
Parisian made the change in his mindset after his last fight in which he lost to Don’Tale Mayes.
“[After the] last fight, I just realized, like, I was just so worried about my daughter. I just kept thinking about my daughter like; I have to win, I want to provide all these things. And I want to be a provider, and it just clicked finally, I guess, and it took three fights, unfortunately,” Parisian said. “But I’m glad that I finally got there because I feel great right now. My last flight, I was nervous a week out before the fight, I was laying in bed, and my heart was beating out of my chest, and I’m not even in Vegas, I’m laying on my bed. He’s not gonna jump out of the closet and get me. And it’s never about the fight. It’s just always about the outcome. That makes me nervous. And all I keep thinking about is these what-ifs, but this one, I just feel so good.”
Parisian faces Alan Baudot on Saturday. He is in a must-win scenario as this is the last fight on his contract. But that isn’t causing any stress, in fact, Parisian will be happy with whatever outcome happens.
Watch the rest of Josh Parisian’s UFC Vegas 57 media day interview above. The event takes place this Saturday, June 25, 2022 at the Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada.
