LAS VEGAS — Despite losing to Parker Porter in his UFC debut Saturday night, Escanaba’s Josh Parisian is holding his head high.

The heavyweight bout went the three-round distance, with Porter winning via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 29-28).

“Physically, I’m pretty sore,” said Parisian. “I got a big bruise on my thigh and some cuts in my mouth. Other than that, I’m not injured, just minor things.”

Mentally, he’s doing even better.

“I feel super good. I’m not super bummed out,” he said. “I’m looking forward to the future and looking forward to the fighter that I’m going to be after this.”

Parisian, and Porter, came out swinging in the first round, with Parisian landing 56 of 115 thrown significant strikes. Porter was 46 of 92.

But it was during this opening barrage that Parisian knew he was in trouble.

“Everything went well until I had an adrenaline dump in the first round,” he said. “I even caught him, and his eyes started to get all crazy. I thought I was going to knock him out.

“But as soon as I hit that wall, it just seemed I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t catch my breath. It’s like my body was shutting down.”

For Parisian, there was no choice but to just keep pushing for the remaining minutes of the fight.

“I’m sure on the outside, it looked like I didn’t have good cardio or anything,” he said. “But my cardio was phenomenal. I just hit that wall.”

Parisian narrowed the reason for the dump down to a combination of nerves and stress. Normally, he said, he’ll get nervous the day of the fight. This was different.

“I was just nervous every evening and felt that deep tired of just being exhausted from being stressed out,” he stated. “I think it was just the stress of the unknown and my first time being in the UFC and not knowing what to expect.”

During the second round, Porter was able to score a takedown on Parisian. Once on the ground, it looked like it may be dire straits for Parisian as Porter began to cinch in a choke.

“He was going for a guillotine, which is using his forearms to cutoff my carotid artery from the front,” Parisian said. “It was really tight, but I was able to create some separation on my right side to stay awake and stay in it.”

Parisian was able to escape the hold — as well as an attempted key lock from Porter — and reach the end of the round.

Even when things looked bleak during the fight, he showcased his never give up mentality. At no point did he ever display any sign of backing down.

“I’m not really sure where that comes from, but I always saw that as like my superpower,” he said. “I don’t know if it comes from the rough upbringing that I had or some deep-seated thing where I don’t want to disappoint people in my life.

“I am definitely grateful for that ability to do that, and I know if I don’t hit that wall and have that cardio, it’d be a different story.”

The frenzy of strikes that began in the first round continued through the remainder of the fight as the duo set a new UFC record for most significant strikes landed in a three-round heavyweight fight.

“Man, that was really cool,” Parisian said. “There was a couple good things, but that was like the one big good thing that I feel I got out of the fight.”

While Parisian wants to win and be successful, he also knows his role as an entertainer.

“I want people to watch my fights and be entertained,” he said. “Although I didn’t win, I did the best thing I could do outside of winning, which is give a good fight and be something that somebody might talk about.”

It seems that Parisian’s performance certainly turned some heads Saturday night.

“I had like a dozen people in the Vegas airport trying to get pictures with me or saying ‘great fight’, so that made me feel good,” he said.

After the fight, Parisian and Porter shook hands and hugged. Porter even said he was going to buy Parisian a drink during his post-fight interview.

That, however, never happened.

Once Parisian made it backstage, event staff began asking him questions, including where he was flying back to. Parisian — whose information read Michigan — answered factually that he was flying to Houston to see family.

“I thought she was making conversation,” he said. “I realized after the fact that she was asking me questions to see if I was there, that I wasn’t concussed.”

Parisian was sent to the hospital for a CT scan, which came up clean. While he and Porter didn’t get to catch up in person after the fight, they did exchange messages online.

“I just feel like he’s a genuine person,” Parisian said of Porter, “I actually met him at the Ultimate Fighter tryouts in Vegas three years ago. We got through all of the cuts and ended up doing medicals together. I knew he was a good guy then, so the whole time I knew he was a good guy, a family guy.”

With three fights remaining in his UFC contract, Parisian plans to get right back to the grind, working with his strength and conditioning coach.

He also plans to get his weight down and get his body to where he really wants it to be.

“Just keep pushing forward doing the same thing I’ve always done,” said Parisian. “Work hard. A loss is just an opportunity to get better.”