Sean Strickland knocked him out, then drove him home

The two struck a bell
Syndicate MMAwhere Parsons is still training, six weeks before the match. Parsons recalled the incident ahead of his Nov. 7 return to the Octagon at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas.

Jonny Parsons recalls being knocked out in sparring by Sean Strickland

Parsons said he was tiring when Strickland was doubled over
Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight title holder, started to move with his head. Parsons avoided the first two punches of the combination, but landed a jab.

Parsons said he didn’t see the knockout until he looked at security cameras after the gym. Strickland drove him home that day.

“Before Strickland somehow settled down
Xtreme Couturehe trained in Syndicate (MMA),” Parsons told Danny Podolsky. “In the second half of the round I start to get a little flustered, he hits the groove of my head movement and he just does a one-two head kick. I swiped one, rolled two, and as soon as I came off the roll, boom – a headbutt across the jaw, across the face. I froze with my face out. I only know what it looks like because I looked at the security camera footage afterwards…Sean Strickland was nice enough to drive me home that day. It was six weeks before my Contender Series fight. So for my Contender Series fight, I barely trained at all.

Parsons (9-3) won his Contender Series bout by split decision to sign a UFC contract. He won by stoppage in his UFC debut in 2023, but has not fought since. Parsons said he pushed himself too hard in training and that lingering injuries kept him out of action. He’s going to come back José Henrique Souza (9-1) at
UFC Vegas 124 on Saturday.