Ido Pariente ( he, עידו פריינטה; born August 31, 1978) is an Israeli

mixed martial art Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorpo ...

s fighter and trainer. His nickname is "The Hebrew Hammer". He is one of Israel's top fighters. Pariente was the Victory Fighting Championship Lightweight Champion in 2001,

Pankration Pankration (; el, παγκράτιον) was a sporting event introduced into the Greek Olympic Games in 648 BC, which was an empty-hand submission sport with few rules. The athletes used boxing and wrestling techniques but also others, such as ...

World Champion in 2003, European

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting (ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...

(BJJ) champion brown belt in 2007, and Desert Combat Lightweight titleholder in 2007. ''

The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Jerusalem Post''. In 2004, the paper w ...

'' described him and his brother Roy as "pretty much the biggest names in Israel's young MMA scene."

Early life and education

Pariente was born in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

, Israel on August 31, 1978. He fought

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

from the age of 7 until he was 17. He is a BJJ second-degree black belt, and as of 2010 he had been fighting professionally for over 10 years. He has a younger and bigger brother, Roy. ''

'' described him and his brother as "pretty much the biggest names in Israel's young MMA scene."

Mixed martial arts career

In 1999, Pariente went to the United States to train and fight for two years. He trains full-time, mostly in Israel under Muay Thai coach Itzik Franko and one month a year in Brazil, while teaching BJJ at a 100-student school that he has named MMA Israel. Pariente fights out of an Orthodox stance. He is reputed to have good

Muay Thai Muay Thai ( th, มวยไทย, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, is a combat sport that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. This discipline is known as the "art of eight limbs", as it is characterised ...

skills. Pariente was the Victory Fighting Championship Lightweight Champion in 2001,

World Champion in 2003, European BJJ champion brown belt in 2007, and Desert Combat Lightweight titleholder in 2007. In Desert Combat 5 in 2007, he fought with his brother on the same card for the first time. As of 2007, he was fighting as much as he could outside of Israel, for the higher purses and greater exposure, noting that: "Every fight I get to do abroad is half conniving, half begging. It's a way of developing the sport here, too." He was at the same time earning money by training over 70 students, and overseeing a few clubs. Pariente met

Jake Shields Jake Sequoyah Shields (born January 9, 1979) is an American mixed martial artist and submission grappler. He was the last Rumble on the Rock Welterweight Champion, the only Elite XC Welterweight Champion, a former Shooto Welterweight ...

(17–4–1) in a

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify the ...

fight at the

Fighting and Entertainment Group Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG) was the leading Japanese combat sport promoter founded on September 3, 2003. Its last president was Sadaharu Tanikawa and it was the parent company behind the now-defunct mixed martial arts series Dream and fo ...

(FEG)/

Elite Xtreme Combat Elite Xtreme Combat, also known as EliteXC, was a United States-based mixed martial arts (MMA) organization owned and operated by ProElite. It was founded as a partnership between Showtime Networks and ProElite and officially announced on Decembe ...

(EliteXC)

Dynamite!! USA ''SoftBank presents Dynamite!! USA'' was a mixed martial arts (MMA) event co-promoted by Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG), the promoters of K-1 kickboxing events and Hero's MMA events, and EliteXC. The event was held on Saturday, June 2, ...

event held June 2, 2007 held at the

Los Angeles Coliseum The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Conceived as a hallmark of civic pride, the Coliseum was commissioned in 1921 as a mem ...

, and televised on

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

. Shields was Fighters.com's third-ranked welterweight and later EliteXC champion; Pariente was a lightweight. Pariente had accepted the fight before realizing that Shields fought at the higher welterweight weight, but when he questioned the arrangement he was told, "It's this fight or no fight". Pariente responded, "Well, it's K-1 Dynamite, of course I'm fighting." He said, "This is a great opportunity for me. I plan to take advantage of it". However, Shields, from San Francisco, defeated Pariente in the main event of the K-1 competition. He dominated early, getting the mount position following a quick takedown, and when Pariente gave up his back Shields defeated Pariente at 2:06 of the first round on a

submission Deference (also called submission or passivity) is the condition of submitting to the espoused, legitimate influence of one's superior or superiors. Deference implies a yielding or submitting to the judgment of a recognized superior, out of re ...

tapout by

rear naked choke The rear naked choke (RNC) is a chokehold in martial arts applied from an opponent's back. The word "naked" in this context suggests that, unlike other strangulation techniques found in jujutsu/judo, this hold does not require the use of a keikogi ...

. Shields won $24,000 for the fight, while Pariente received $2,500.

Walla! Walla! Communications Ltd. ( he, וואלה! תקשורת בע"מ) is an Israeli internet company headquartered in Tel Aviv and is fully owned by The Jerusalem Post. Until 2020, it was fully owned by Bezeq. Walla!'s web portal provides news, sea ...

in Israel described it as one of the biggest fights ever for an Israeli, and called Pariente's fight an important milestone in the development of the fight industry in Israel. In October 2007, Pariente defeated Romanian Gica Apostu to retain the Desert Combat title, winning Desert Combat V. He fought at 85 kg, for Team Franko, coached by Yitzhak Franko. Pariente was a lightweight participant in 2008 on

Spike TV Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Media Networks. The network's headquarters are located at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Los Angeles. The channel was o ...

's '' The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir'', but was eliminated in season 8 by

Efrain Escudero Efraín Escudero (born January 15, 1986) is a Mexican mixed martial artist. He trains under Drew Fickett and competes in the 155 lb (70.3 kg) weight class. Efrain was the winner of season eight of Spike TV's reality show ''The Ultimate ...

, The Ultimate Fighter lightweight winner of the season. Escudero started the fight quickly, scoring with shots to Pariente's body, and then slowed the pace down. Pariente got a trip takedown using a clinch, and followed with shots to Escudero's body. Escudero kicked his way free, scored a takedown of his own, worked onto Pariente's back, and finished with a modified

rear-naked choke The rear naked choke (RNC) is a chokehold in martial arts applied from an opponent's back. The word "naked" in this context suggests that, unlike other strangulation techniques found in jujutsu/judo, this hold does not require the use of a keikogi ...

. Pariente said later that TUF 8 had been his dream for a long time, and the loss was very hard on him mentally. Speaking about mixed martial arts fighting in 2010, Pariente said that MMA demands "strength, athleticism, flexibility and more balance than in any other sport", and that in contrast to those who view the sport as overly violent, "You can't call a sport in which the competitors are under close medical supervision and need a license to compete barbaric. It's not what people think. It's not just about people fighting in a cage. This is a serious sport". Pariente had a record of 8–4 as of February 2010. On November 9, 2010, he fought Josh Hewlett of San Francisco, a former wrestler and football player, in '' Israel FC: Genesis''. The MMA event was held in front of a boisterous crowd of 6,500 people at Nokia Arena in the Tel Aviv neighborhood of Yad Eliahu on

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program guid ...

available worldwide, and was slated to be the largest MMA event ever in Israel. Pariente won the lightweight bout at 2:54 of the first round by submission.

Retirement and post-fighting career

His career continued through a

Cage Warriors Cage Warriors (CW) is an Irish owned mixed martial arts promotion, based in London, England. The promotion was established in 2001 and staged its first MMA event in London in July, 2002. Many MMA stars have made their names under the Cage Warrio ...

event in 2012. His final match in Israel, an MMA match in the

Hadar Yosef Hadar Yosef ( he, הַדָר יוֹסֶף, ''lit.'' Glory of Joseph) is a residential neighborhood of Tel Aviv, Israel, in the northeastern part of the city. The neighborhood is located to the north of the Yarkon River and near the National Sport ...

neighborhood of

was broadcast on Israeli television on June 20, 2012. He returned to fight in the

Abu Dhabi Combat Club The ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship, is an international submission wrestling, submission grappling competition, organised by the Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC). The inaugural tournament was held in Abu Dhabi, UAE in 1998. It has been ...

(ADCC) Israel Open Championship in Tel Aviv in April 2014, winning the Male Super Fight 1 category. Since retiring from fighting, Pariente has run the ''Pariente Academy'', an MMA training school affiliated with Patrick Bittan located in Raanana.

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Loss , align=center, 12–6 , Dale Hardiman , KO (punches) , Cage Warriors: 48 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 0:44 , , , - , Win , align=center, 12–5 , Chad Hinton , Decision (split) , Gladiator Cage Fights – Knockout Night 1 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 , , , - , Win , align=center, 11–5 , Joshua Hewlett , Submission (armbar) , Israel FC: Genesis , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:54 , , , - , Loss , align=center, 10–5 , Joshua Thorpe , KO (punches) , Empire Fighting Championships – A Night of Reckoning 2 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:54 , , , - , Loss , align=center, 10–4 , Seydina Seck , KO (punches) , Dog Fight 5 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:00 , , , - , Win , align=center, 10–3 , Keith Perkins , TKO (submission to punches) , H.B. Dick: Promotions , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 4:51 , , , - , Win , align=center, 9–3 , Vasile Doczi , Submission (triangle choke) , Desert Combat 6 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:05 , Defended the Desert Combat Lightweight Championship. , , - , Win , align=center, 8–3 , Gica Apostu , Decision (unanimous) , Desert Combat 5 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 , Defended the Desert Combat Lightweight Championship. , , - , Loss , align=center, 7–3 ,

, Submission (rear naked choke) ,

, , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:06 ,

Welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify the ...

bout. , , - , Win , align=center, 7–2 , Nardu Debrah , TKO (punches) , ROC 14: Tournament Finals , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 3:22 , , Catchweight (160 lb) bout. , - , Win , align=center, 6–2 , Moshe Kaitz , Decision (unanimous) , DC 3: Desert Combat 3 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 , , Won the vacant Desert Combat Lightweight Championship. , - , Loss , align=center, 5–2 , Johnny Frachey , Decision (unanimous) , K-1 Slovakia , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 , , , - , Win , align=center, 5–1 , Mindaugas Smirnovas , Submission (leglock) , Hero's Lithuania 2005 , , align=center, N/A , align=center, N/A ,

bout. , , - , Win , align=center, 4–1 , Don Hamilton , Decision (unanimous) , Gladiators 16 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 , , , - , Win , align=center, 3–1 , Jason Purcell , TKO (punches) , Gladiators 14 , , align=center, N/A , align=center, N/A , , , - , Loss , align=center, 2–1 , Aaron Jerome , TKO (punches) , Gladiators 11 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:53 , , , - , Win , align=center, 2–0 , Dylan Norris , TKO (punches) , EC 38: Extreme Challenge 38 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:26 , , , - , Win , align=center, 1–0 , Khaled Basheer , Submission (choke) , Gladiators 5: Gladiators 5 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, N/A , ,

References

External links