Not too long ago, Karo “The Heat” Parisyan was on a collision course with UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Matt Hughes.

He tore through Matt Sera, Nick Diaz, Chris Lytle and David Strasser before finally losing to Georges St. Pierre.

By beating Parisyan, St. Pierre earned the right to fight for the title against Hughes at UFC 50. But, St. Pierre lost via submission in the first round.

Parisyan eventually got his shot at the champ, only to have to bail out at the last minute because of an injured knee and hamstring tear suffered during training.

Now, years later, he finds himself in a similar situation. St. Pierre got a rematch to fight Hughes for the title and Parisyan is once again on the outside looking in.

Make no mistake, if Parisyan takes care of business on August 17 against Diego Sanchez, he will fight the winner of Hughes-St. Pierre.

Here’s a snip from Parisyan from a good article today in the Press-Telegram:

“I take one fight at a time, I don’t look past my opponent but I do want my title shot. I think about how I missed my first chance at the 170 title. Matt Hughes got lucky that I was injured because I was ready, but it wasn’t in God’s plan … it wasn’t meant to be.”

Parisyan (15-3) is probably the most underrated fighter in the UFC’s toughest division. And, it’s going to take a lot more than some Judo throws to topple Sanchez.

We’ll just have to wait and see. Win or lose, however, Parisyan still deserves a shot at the belt.

He’s earned it.