Exclusive | Jason Parillo talks Bisping vs. Henderson II, boxing in MMA, & more

Jason Parillo has gained recognition as one of the best striking coaches in MMA. Parillo, who has not only worked with UFC champions such as our very own BJ Penn, and UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping, but also Invicta FC featherweight champion Cris Cyborg, has been around MMA since its earliest days.

Parillo, who was an accomplished pro boxer back in his day, recalls how he got started in coaching and the ‘dark ages’ of MMA, when rules didn’t exist:

“I’ve been around MMA since it was no holds barred. Down here in Orange county there was a lot of 1st generation MMA fighters so it’s something that I had been around for quite a bit.. When I was forced to retire from boxing I became a full time coach. As I became a full time coach I started getting into working with boxers,Mma guys, and kick boxers. I got a call to work with a fighter by the name of BJ Penn and he kind of catapulted me into being a full time boxing coach for MMA guys. …you know You train a guy who has such a high profile and such dominance in his division, it kind of embeds you into the mma game.”

With that being said, Parillo is coming off arguably one of his greatest moments as a coach, Michael Bisping knocking out Luke Rockhold and winning the UFC middleweight championship. Ahead of Bisping’s rematch with Dan Henderson at UFC 204, the man to infamously knock him out at UFC 100, Parillo explained why he believes the rematch will be different:

“I’m really excited for this fight. That’s a fight that haunts Michael. Michael has grown leaps and bounds from the first time they fought. I went back and watched the first fight not too long ago and I didn’t see the same Mike in the cage. First of all he looked physically like a shell of himself. And the way he was moving and fighting on his feet he looked like he wasn’t emotionally or mentally where he needed to be for that fight. I feel that Dan fought a different guy the first fight. I think he’s going to find out that he’s in there with a whole different animal. I see Mike finishing him in the late rounds.”

With talks of UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor potentially making the jump over to boxing for a superfight with Floyd Mayweather, we asked Coach Parillo who he thinks has the best boxing in MMA:

“I honestly think that it would be the person who puts their punches together the best, not necessarily the best puncher, but the person that really knows how to use boxing to their advantage in MMA is Joanna Jedrzejczyk”