UFC Vegas 52 results and highlights: Pedro & AoriQileng both get TKO winss

On the UFC Vegas 52 prelims, Sergey Khandozhko  won a war with Dwight Grant, plus Tyson Pedro and AoriQileng both finished in the first round.

The UFC Vegas 52 prelims have just ended three sick consecutive finishes! Closing out this portion of the event, Sergey Khandozhko stopped Dwight Grant in the second round of what was a crazy back and forth scrap. Both men came up with knockdowns in the first round, but it was Khandozhko who touched his target in the second to drop and daze Grant, and then flurry on the feet to get a standing TKO. This was Khandozhko’s first fight since 2019, and boy did he make his return in style!

In his first fight since 2018, Tyson Pedro also came up with a stoppage when he put away Ike Villanueva in the very first round. He peppered Ike with leg kicks, one of which dropped him, and then landed a couple of ground strikes to make it official. What a way to make a return after being on the shelf for such a long time.

AoriQileng earned his first UFC win tonight, and did so in spectacular fashion by pounding out Cameron Else in the first frame. It was a set of viscous body hooks that sat down Else, and then some endless ground and pound sealed the deal. The move up to bantamweight just might be the winning ticket for AoriQileng.

Preston Parsons put on a dominant performance tonight on UFC newcomer, Evan Elder, to run away with the scorecards and pick up his first promotional victory. Before that, Philipe Lins had a successful move down to light heavyweight by winning a unanimous decision over Marcin Prachnio.

Opening up the event, Mike Jackson defeated Dean Barry by disqualification in the first round due to an unfortunate eye gouge that occurred on the feet. This is something we never want to see, and hopefully Jackson doesn’t endure any lasting effects.

**See complete results below

Prelims:

Sergey Khandozhko def. Dwight Grant by TKO at 4:15 of round 2: Welterweight

Grant was swinging from the word go, letting his right hand follow his jab. Then, a bodacious left hook from Khandozhko sat down Grant, who immediately sprung back up. Grant went right back throwing his hands, countering an advancing Khandozhko. A big right hand landed on the button and dropped Khandozhko. Grant tried to finish on the ground, but Khandozhko held on and started to wrestle.

Grant used another big right hand to knock over Khandozhko as he was throwing a leg kick early in the second round. Khandozhko stood up and went back to pressuring, but Grant was doing a solid job of countering. As the round grew on, Khandozhko began to connect more frequently. He then connected again with a big left hook that dazed Grant, and then dropped him with another one. Grant stood up but was getting swarmed with punches, prompting the referee to step in and stop the match.

Tyson Pedro def. Ike Villanueva by TKO at 4:55 of round 1: Light Heavyweight

There was a bit of feeling out going on in the opening round. Each man was measuring the other while throwing feints out there to gauge the reactions. Pedro would occasionally throw a kick to the body, and one of them accidentally went low. Villanueva shook it off, but then a knee to the cup from Pedro brought a more lengthy pause. The fight got back underway, and Pedro started cracking with thudding leg kicks that visibly hurt Villanueva. Pedro was doing great with his range, keeping Villanueva on the outside. Then another brutal leg kick was thrown and dropped Villanueva. A series of followup punches sealed the deal.

AoriQileng def. Cameron Else by TKO at at 2:48 of round 1: Bantamweight

Else pressured right away and moved right into the clinch, however he got tossed by AoriQileng. Else then broke free, and AoriQileng started to launch some nasty strikes. He was punching the body with hooks, and even dropped Else with it. AoriQileng took the back and began dropping all sorts of ground and pound.Else did not improve upon his bad position and forced the referee to stop the fight.

Preston Parsons def. Evan Elder by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27 x2): Welterweight

Elder opened the match with a spinning back fist that nearly got him taken down. He was able to scramble on top, and then Parsons quickly scrambled up to his feet. Parsons was doing damage with his hands, and seemed to have a clear power advantage on the feet. Elder was launching kicks to try and keep the pressure of Parsons at bay. Parsons then hit a double leg, and began attacking with an arm triangle.

A big lifting takedown from Parsons kicked off the second stanza. He went back to the arm triangle, but Elder escaped again and scrambled up to his feet. It wasn’t long before Parsons got him back down, and even though he got swept, he was able to quickly hit a sweep of his own to get back on top. Back to the arm triangle he went, but again Elder hung tough, escaped, and reversed to get on top.

Elder was able to remain vertical to start the final round. He was stuffing the takedowns attempts and making Parsons blow through some energy. Elder started letting his strikes go, and although they didn’t have a tremendous amount of steam on them, the volume was there. Then he shot for a takedown, but Parsons instantly reversed him. The remainder of the round was Parsons dropping a bunch of tomahawk elbows from the full mount.

Philipe Lins def. Marcin Prachnio by unanimous decision (29-28 x3): Light Heavyweight

Lins was the aggressor early on, pressing Prachnio backwards. He then shot in and scored a takedown, but he wasn’t able to keep Prachnio down for very long. On the feet, they exchanged kicks back and forth, with Lins mixing in more punches. Lins tried to get the fight down again, but Prachnio wasn’t interested in that.

The start of the second act began with a bang. Lins launched an angry combo, and Prachnio was happy to return fire. A cut formed on the cheek of Lins, but it didn’t seem to be affecting him. Lins unloaded a boxing combo that had Prachnio appearing hurt. He was shelling up as Lins was unloading, but was able to clinch up and slow things down. It was a strong round for Lins.

Lins came out and went right to the takedown in the third. Prachnio was eventually able to work back into open space, but it wasn’t long before Lins took him down again. Lins landed a few hammers on the floor that prompted Prachnio to kick him away. Prachnio just wasn’t able to maintain seperation, and Lins was able to neutralize him against the cage.

Mike Jackson def. Dean Barry by DQ (eye gouge) at 3:52 of round 1

Barry came out overcommitting to huge overhand rights. Jackson was walking him down while slipping out of the way of most of what was coming his way. Then Barry landed a spinning kick to the cup, causing a lengthy timeout. The fight resumed and Barry went right back to his heavy rights, and they were connecting. One of them dropped Jackson, but he quickly recovered and got back to his feet. Just as the momentum was swinging in Barry’s favor, he gruesomely stuck his finger in Jackson’s eye. That was the end of the match and Barry got disqualified.