Adam Piccolotti decides to fight on after Jordan Parsons' tragic death
Adam Piccolotti never met Jordan Parsons, though he was beginning to feel like he knew him.
Piccolotti and Parsons were scheduled to fight at Bellator 154 on May 14 at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., but Parsons was tragically killed in a hit-and-run auto accident on May 1 in Delray Beach, Fla.
Piccolotti told Yahoo Sports that he was following Parsons on social media as he prepared for their bout, and said he started to get a sense of the man.
Parsons’ friends, teammates and coaches lauded him as an outstanding man who was optimistic, outgoing and determined to succeed in his chosen career.
Piccolotti said he'd developed respect for Parsons in the short time he followed him.
“Unfortunately, I hadn’t met him and we didn’t really have any back and forth,” Piccolotti said. “But I was following him and I’d checked out his Instagram and all that stuff. I was getting a sense of how good of a person he was and how blessed he felt he was. He was really a motivational kind of a guy.”
Bellator officials initially pulled Piccolotti from the card after Parsons’ passing, but he wanted to fight on. He said he had conflicting emotions, but said he felt inspired by Parsons’ words.
He said the tragedy left him “in a weird head space,” but he felt it was necessary to go forward. Bellator announced after getting the OK from Piccolotti that he would stay on the card and fight Ray Wood.
“I’m a competitor; I’m an athlete; this is my job; this is my life,” he said. “Just as I know [Parsons] would have done, I have to continue to move forward.”
Piccolotti is 7-0 with five finishes and said he hopes to one day earn a shot at Bellator lightweight champion Will Brooks. Brooks is probably the best overall fighter in the promotion, and is one of the finest in the sport, and Piccolotti said he follows Brooks carefully because he knows Brooks is the standard he has to reach.
The bout with Wood is an important one for him in that regard, but he said he’ll take it with Parsons in his heart and on his mind.
“It’s obviously a horrible tragedy and my heart goes out to his family and friends,” Piccolotti said. “This kind of thing gives you a perspective on what is important in life. It’s affected me both physically and emotionally. I’ve felt so sad for him and his family and his friends, everybody who was close to him. I send my condolences to them.
“But it’s given me a bit of inspiration, I guess you could say, to live in the moment and like Jordan did, try to make the best of every single day.”
Police are still seeking the public’s help in finding the driver who hit Parsons. Anyone with information on the case can phone the Delray Beach police at (561) 243-7800 or Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County at (800) 458-8477.
