Former Invicta FC atomweight champion, Jinh Yu Frey and fellow Invicta FC alum, Kay Hansen made their UFC debut last weekend at the UFC Apex. While Hansen walked away with the win, both took a short notice and calculated risk in competing against one another to get their foot in the UFC’s door. Frey recently walked fans through the path she took into the UFC and discussed the loss on her Instagram account.
Before Frey got the call she was enjoying wine, smores, and relaxing when she had to switch gears and get into fight camp mode. While Frey was excited about the opportunity, she called the six-day notice fight week, “the most stressful week” of her entire life. “Going from drinking bottles of wine to fighting on the world’s biggest stage was kind of a rollercoaster, “ said Frey.
The onboarding process to get into the UFC for a short notice fight, along with all the medicals, USADA and COVID-19 testing was “overwhelming” according to Frey, but there was no way she could pass up fighting for the UFC. Having to fight at 115 pounds instead of 105 (the atomweight class) along with jitters coming into the UFC made her weight cut relatively easy.
“Ironically, because I was so stressed out, I really couldn’t stomach food all week”, Frey said and added, “So, the weight cut was super easy because the weight was just falling off.” As far as the loss, with that much time to prepare fighters can only focus on making weight and trying to be healthy for three to five rounds of fighting.
Frey had a strong first round but as the fight went on, Hansen was able to impose her grappling to secure an armbar finish. Without taking any credit from Hansen, Frey admitted she only had herself to blame for tapping to the armbar. Frey said it was not really an issue of Hansen having superior jiu-jitsu than it was an “endurance issue”.
Regardless of that fact, Frey says that debut is on par with any promotional debut she has ever had. She lost her RIZIN and Invicta FC debut, only to win a title in Invicta FC so fans can expect to see a lot more from a well prepared Frey.
What did you think of Frey’s debut?
