Karapet "Karo" Parisyan (Armenian: Կարո Փարիզյան; born August 28, 1982) is an Armenian-American mixed martial artist. From his days as a UFC mainstay, Karo holds notable wins over Ryo Chonan, Shonie Carter, Drew Fickett, Matt Serra, Nick Thompson, Chris Lytle, Nick Diaz and Antonio McKee.

Parisyan was born in Yerevan, Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic. His family migrated to America when he was six years old. Parisyan started training in Judo when he was nine years old under fellow Armenian Gokor Chivichyan. Parisyan stated that his father began taking him to Judo lessons because he beat up on his sisters and Judo would be an effective outlet for Parisyan to take out his anger. In a book he published, however, Parisyan wrote that his father introduced him to judo to cure his laziness. By age 10, Parisyan was training his Judo under both Chivichyan and Gene LeBell.

For more than thirteen years, Parisyan developed under the Hayastan Grappling System, a style developed by Gokor Chivichyan and Gene LeBell, which blends elements of Judo, Sambo, Catch Wrestling, Greco-Roman and Freestyle wrestling. Parisyan continued to train at the Hayastan Academy under Gokor and Gene until late 2005. In early 2012, Karo mentioned in an interview that he has returned to the Hayastan Academy.

Strong Guy is the alias of Guido Carosella, a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. He was created by Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz in New Mutants volume 1 #29 (July 1985), and was reinvented as Strong Guy by Peter David and Larry Stroman in X-Factor (volume 1) #71 (October 1991).

Born in Rhinebeck, New York to working class Italian parents, Guido Carosella gained a fortune in a settlement when his parents were killed by falling space debris. Skinny and shy, Guido's mutant powers were triggered in childhood when an incident with schoolyard bullies and being hit by a bus ended in his body becoming disproportionately large and over-muscled, separating the already withdrawn boy even further from his peers. He had the love and support of his aunt and uncle, who took him in after his parents' deaths. Guido coped with his emotional and physical pain caused by his mutation, by developing an outgoing "public face", rarely letting even those close to him see him in any discomfort.

Joseph James "Joe" Rogan (born August 11, 1967) is an American martial artist, stand-up comedian, actor, writer and color commentator. He is best known for playing Joe Garrelli on the NBC sitcom NewsRadio, commentating for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, hosting the NBC reality show Fear Factor and The Joe Rogan Experience podcast.

Rogan was born in Newark, New Jersey. His paternal grandfather was Irish and the remainder of his ancestry is Italian.

In 1981, at age fourteen, he became a practitioner of Kenpo Karate before transitioning to Taekwondo. He eventually gained a 2nd dan black belt. A four-time state champion in Massachusetts, in 1987 he was the USA Taekwondo U.S. Open Champion. In 1996, he began training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Jean Jacques Machado, eventually earning his brown belt. In addition, he holds a brown belt in 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu under Eddie Bravo.

He also practiced and competed in kickboxing.

In 1994, he co-starred on the Fox comedy Hardball as Frank Valente, the young, ego-centric star player on a fictional professional baseball team. From 1995 to 1999, he co-starred on the comedy NewsRadio. He portrayed Joe Garrelli, the electrician at WNYX, a news radio station in New York City. In 2002, he appeared on the episode "A Beautiful Mind" of Just Shoot Me as Chris, Maya Gallo's boyfriend. In 2011, Rogan played his first major character in a movie in the Kevin James movie Zookeeper. He is slated to play himself in an upcoming action-comedy starring Kevin James called Here Comes the Boom, set to be released in the summer of 2012.

Rick Hawn (born September, 1976) is an American former 2004 United States Olympic judo team member and current mixed martial artist. As a judoka he won numerous medals at U.S. national championships, 2 medals at the Pan American Games, and finished 9th at the 2004 Olympics.

Hawn was born in Chicago; but when he was young, his family moved to Eugene, Oregon. At age 12, Hawn began training judo when his father got back into the sport. Hawn continued to compete in judo through high school.

In 1996, after high school, Hawn qualified to live at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. There he trained judo for eight years and ultimately qualified for the 2004 Olympic Games. At the Games in 2004, Hawn went 2-2 and finished in 9th place.

After the 2004 games, Hawn moved to Boston to train with bronze medalist Jimmy Pedro. However, Hawn failed to make the 2008 Olympic judo team. Soon after, Hawn began training for a career in mixed martial arts.

Hawn's professional MMA debut came in January 2009 in Worcester, Massachusetts. Hawn won by technical knockout in the first round. Over the next two years, Hawn won his next 8 fights, 6 by TKO.

Kamal Shalorus is an Iranian professional mixed martial artist. He currently fights in UFC's lightweight division.

Born in the city of Khalkhal in Ardabil Province, Shalorus began wrestling as a teenager in Iran before beginning training in Turkey and Russia. During his wrestling career, he was granted British citizenship and then moved to Austin, Texas in 2006 with his American girlfriend. He began training in MMA upon his arrival in the United States.

Kamal is a decorated wrestler, representing Great Britain in an Olympic Qualification tournament where he placed 19th.

He has also been very competitive in grappling tournaments. He has a notable win over Joachim Hansen in the European Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) Qualifiers.

Kamal trains Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with WEC veteran and Relson Gracie Black Belt Phil Cardella. He has also had in-person training with Relson Gracie in Hawaii, in addition to 5x BJJ World Champ Daniel Moraes. Kamal also trains in catch wrestling and mma with Neil Melanson and Randy Couture at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas.