Josh Parisian

Background

Parisian grew up in Escanaba, Michigan, before moving to Martinsburg, West Virginia before the second grade. Because of an abusive stepfather – who eventually got jail time for domestic violence – he and his mother stayed a lot in shelters. He graduated from Escanaba Senior High School before attending Bay College for two years. In college, Parisian listened to his classmate's public speaking class speech on UFC and got interested in the sport. He tried it out and felt it improve his self-esteem and confidence, leading to dropping out of college in pursuit of a career in mixed martial arts.