José Souza Floors Jonny Parsons With Walk-Off Uppercut at UFC Vegas 124

Jose Souza did not need a frantic exchange to produce the first clean knockout of UFC Vegas 124. He needed Jonny Parsons to step into range one more time.

The Brazilian welterweight dropped Parsons with a right uppercut and left hook at 4:16 of the first round Saturday at Meta APEX in Las Vegas. Parsons fell flat, Souza turned away, and referee Keith Peterson stopped it without a follow-up punch.

It was Souza's first UFC finish and his second win inside the promotion.

Parsons went after the lead leg

Parsons' plan made sense. At 5-foot-9, he was giving up six inches in height to the 6-foot-3 Souza, so trading jabs from the outside was never going to be a comfortable fight.

He took the center early and attacked Souza's legs. The low kicks landed often enough to force Souza to switch stances, and Parsons mixed in high kicks as he tried to close the distance. For most of the round, he was making the taller fighter address the problem instead of simply marching forward behind his reach.

Souza stayed patient. His jab found Parsons as he came in, and he mixed in a knee to the body and a calf kick rather than loading up on every counter. The pace was controlled, but the danger was obvious each time Parsons had to cross open space.

That tradeoff finally caught him.

One read ended the fight

Late in the round, Parsons stepped into punching range and Souza drove a right uppercut through the middle. A left hook followed as Parsons was already falling. Souza saw that no more punches were needed and walked away while Peterson moved in.

Peterson's stoppage came at 4:16 of Round 1, officially recorded as a knockout by punches.

The finish was built on timing, not volume. Parsons had success with the low kicks, but every kick and forward entry gave Souza another look at the rhythm. Once Souza had the read, his height advantage became more than a number on the tale of the tape. The uppercut met Parsons exactly where he had to be to reach him.

Souza's post-fight message was just as direct. In the UFC's official Octagon interview, he called for a bonus and repeated his belief that he can become champion. "People diminish my skills," Souza said before insisting he would reach that goal.

A different kind of second UFC win

Souza's debut against Ding Meng in May showed he could work through a close, three-round fight. He won that night by split decision. This performance showed the other side of his game in less than five minutes.

The 24-year-old is now 10-1 as a professional and 2-0 in the UFC, with seven knockout or TKO wins. He has won five straight since the only loss of his career, a 2022 Contender Series stoppage against Yusaku Kinoshita.

Parsons falls to 9-4 overall and 1-1 in the UFC. Saturday was his first fight since July 2023, a long layoff to carry into a matchup against a younger opponent with a major size advantage. His low-kick work gave him a route into the fight, but one mistimed entry erased the progress.

Saturday did not show how Souza handles a committed wrestler, and the fight ended before pace became an issue. Parsons did make him adjust after the leg kicks. Souza adjusted, waited for the next entry, and left Meta APEX with the first clean knockout of his UFC run.