Ido Pariente (8-3) is an Israeli lightweight in the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter, premiering tonight. He faced Fighters.com’s third-ranked welterweight and current EliteXC champion Jake Shields (21-4-1) in June 2007.
Fighters.com: How did you get started in MMA?
Ido Pariente: I have been doing martial arts all my life, I started with karate and I hold a third degree black belt, when I was 18 years old I first saw the UFC and I knew right then that I have to fight there one day and now, 10 years after… here I am…
Fighters.com: Who are some of your heroes, in sports or otherwise?
Ido Pariente: Royce Gracie [14-3-3] was my first hero in this sport. I really look up to people that do things that seem impossible, like Randy Couture [16-8] holding the heavyweight title at his age and Anderson Silva [22-4] for not letting anyone pass the second round. Arnold Schwarzenegger is someone to admire, the guy came from a foreign country to the US with a dream, he became Mr. Olympia, then became the greatest action movie star and then a governor… all because he had a dream. So people like that inspire me to keep dreaming and make my dreams come true…
Fighters.com: Do you train full time or do you have another job?
Ido Pariente: I train full time while having a job which is very hard! But my job is teaching BJJ and giving private class (BJJ and fitness) so I work my training schedule around my job.
Fighters.com: Where do you train? Who do you train with?
Ido Pariente: I train in Israel most of the time. I have build a strong BJJ group that keeps pushing me, and I have a Muay Thai coach, Itzik Franko, who is the best here in Israel, he has produced a world champion and two European champions and many other international competitors. Together we formed our team,TEAM FRANKO PARIENTE. Once a year I go to Brazil to train for about a month, but my direct teacher of BJJ is Patrick Bittan, a second-degree black belt under master Flavio Behring and he took second in the world championship in 2003 and 2005.
Read More About TUF Questions: Ido Pariente…