Knockout! Daniel Rodriguez force feeds Preston Parsons knuckle sandwiches at UFC Vegas 31

Daniel Rodriguez was originally supposed to face Abubakar Nurmagomedov at UFC Vegas 31, but an injury switched things up and placed him across the cage from Octagon newcomer Preston Parsons. And while Parsons was a game dance partner, Rodriguez was just too heavy handed for him, finishing him with strikes on the ground 3:47 into the first round.

The beginning of the end came when Rodriguez hit Parsons with a big right hand that had Parsons wincing and pawing at his eye. But, it was all knuckle, which left Rodriguez free to come in for the kill. Parsons tried valiantly to chase a takedown, but was shrugged off. From there, “D-Rod” went to work on his half-blind opponent, hitting him with several violent combos until he crumbled against the cage.

Watch the finish here:

The win moves Daniel Rodriguez to 15-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC and a nice little two-fight win streak.

MMAmania.com is delivering LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 31 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN/ESPN+ “Prelims” undercard bouts at 7 p.m. ET, followed by the ESPN/ESPN+ main card start time at 10 p.m. ET.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC Vegas 31 news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive here.