Fight of the Night<\/a>\u201d honors.<\/p>\nThen, poof! Parsons disappeared.<\/p>\n
Well, we finally have an answer: recurring hip flexor and groin injuries became so severe that Parsons occasionally struggled to walk or lift his legs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest problem I was having was with my hip flexors, and it was rolling down to my groin,\u201d Parsons told UFC.com. \u201cIt was causing a lot of issues when doing kicks and things like that. My lower body wasn\u2019t really working, so it was hard to get runs in and hard to be active\u2026I couldn\u2019t walk some days or lift my legs off the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parsons repeatedly aggravated the injury after returning to training, creating a frustrating cycle that kept delaying his comeback. After approximately one year of setbacks, the 35-year-old committed to extensive physical therapy and a new strength-and-conditioning program at UFC Performance Institute.<\/p>\n
The process finally worked.<\/p>\n
Parsons said it has now been about one year since he experienced one of the debilitating episodes that previously left him in pain and nearly immobile.<\/p>\n
Despite spending roughly 40 months away from competition, \u201cThe Sluggernaut\u201d is not worried about ring rust. Long layoffs have followed him throughout his career, including the nearly two-year wait between earning his contract on Contender Series in Oct. 2021 and making his UFC debut.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m an even better fighter than I was, and this is the strongest I\u2019ve felt in five years,\u201d Parsons said. \u201cI\u2019m no stranger to long layoffs. Some of my best performances have come after a long break\u2026I\u2019m confident coming off the couch, so now that I have great health and feel strong, I\u2019m ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parsons (9-3) will not receive an easy return matchup. Souza (9-1) is a 24-year-old prospect who won his UFC debut against Ding Meng via split decision in May.<\/p>\n
If you are unfamiliar with Parsons \u2014 understandable, considering he has made only one Octagon appearance \u2014 just know that he fights with relentless pressure, sharp Muay Thai and serious knockout power. He is an all-gas, no-brakes action fighter who appears perfectly comfortable turning every bout into a brawl.<\/p>\n
Three years of injuries and rehabilitation later, \u201cThe Sluggernaut\u201d finally gets another opportunity to show UFC fans what they have been missing.<\/p>\n
To check out the latest and greatest UFC Vegas 124: \u201cCortes-Acosta vs. Walker\u201d news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe Sluggernaut\u201d is finally back! Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight Jonny Parsons returns against Brazilian prospect Jose Souza…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":954291,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,40762,785,85,1396,179146,85770,1647],"class_list":["post-954290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-latest-ufc-mma-news","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc-news","tag-ufc-on-paramount","tag-ufc-prelims","tag-upcoming-ufc-events"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=954290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/954291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=954290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=954290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=954290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}