Welterweight Trevin Giles looked to make it two win in a row Saturday at UFC San Antonio, where he took on Preston Parsons.
Parsons was also looked for a second consecutive win, but San Antonio’s own Giles would have home field advantage in the match-up.
Giles was looking to make it 3-0 for Texas based fighters on the night. Parsons began the fight with the forward pressure, trying to put Giles against the cage, but Giles did well to switch the position and then get back to the center.
The power of Giles was a clear issue for Parsons as the aforementioned was finding a home for the right cross consistently. Parsons once again put pressure on Giles against the cage and landed some sharp elbows from the clinch, but not long after, Giles once again gained separation. The 27-year-old, Parsons wobbled the home state fighter with a huge right hook and it resulted in his gaining full mount as Giles fell to the mat. Submission attempts came in a flurry for Parsons as he threatened with both a rear-naked-choke and an armbar.
“Pressure” Parsons was living up to his nickname as he consistently fought on the front foot, despite being caught often with Giles’ jab. Again, Parsons managed to get Giles against the cage and enforced some pressure, but once Giles gained separation, he found a home with the jab again. With his forward pressure, Parsons managed to secure himself consecutive takedowns, but didn’t manage to do anything with them. Midway through round two, both men showed signs of slowing down, with Giles looking the slightly fresher of the two. “The Problem” Giles managed to gain himself some mat control after a momentary scramble, finishing the round with some heavy ground-and-pound.
Before the start of round three, the ref called in the doctor to check on the right eye of Parsons, but the doctor deemed him okay to continue. Some more forward pressure of Parsons saw him landing some heavy shots at the beginning of round three despite looking to be the more tired of the two. Another takedown from Parsons was landed, but due to Giles being with his back against the cage, Parsons once again couldn’t do much with it. Giles began to feel himself halfway through the round once again popping out the jab, but this time, putting his right hand on the end of it.
Giles found himself back on the mat though after his short stint of success, and this time, Parsons started threatening with the submission attempts again. A huge scramble from Giles saw him explode from the bottom to find himself with top control. With Parsons on the bottom, he looked to throw up a submission attempt, trying to catch the arm of Giles, but nothing could be caught. The round concluded with Giles on top, similar to the end of round two.
Official Result: Trevin Giles def. Preston Parsons by split decision (29–28, 28–29, 29–28)
