20-year-old Kay Hansen earned the first UFC victory of her career, defeating former Invicta champion Jinh Yu Frey at UFC on ESPN 12.
Two well-known Invicta FC alums made their debut at UFC on ESPN 12 Saturday night. The Las Vegas card, once again at the UFC Apex, witnessed the coming-out party for both Jinh Yu Frey and Kay Hansen.
Hansen, upon arrival in the UFC, instantly became its youngest athlete in the women’s division. A teenager when she joined Invicta, Hansen is still just twenty-years-old. Frey, a full fifteen years her senior, was also making her debut — and moving up to strawweight after spending her career at 105lbs, and winning Invicta FC’s atomweight title.
Hansen looked to get the fight into the clinch quickly, but Frey shrugged her off, then landed a huge left elbow followed by a left hand. Frey was landing some nice low kicks early and appeared to be the significantly faster fighter on the feet. Halfway through the round, Hansen looked for the takedown, but Frey did a great job of stuffing it. Hansen went for a judo throw but ended up being stuffed and ate a kick to the face for her attempt. Frey started to find a home for the left hand to end the round, but it was Hansen who ended things with a big straight right to send the pair to round two.
Frey opened up with some more leg kicks to start round two. Hansen got the fight into the clinch once again and began to look for the takedown, and for the first time of the night, she did. Hansen quickly moved into half guard and looked to control the stronger Frey. Hansen looked to move to mount but Frey did a great job of defending off of her back. Hansen eventually moved to side control and began landing some nice ground-and-pound. Frey did a great job of getting back to her feet briefly at the end of the round, but Hansen once again took her down to end the round on top.
Frey looked a bit more tentative to start round three, but she found a home for a big counter left as Hansen was moving in that gave Frey much more confidence. Hansen was trying to pressure Frey but Frey was doing a good job fighting off her back foot. That was until Hansen dove in on a takedown, and Frey and Hansen had a huge scramble that resulted in Hansen getting the back. Hansen then switched back and forth between looking for the armbar and triangle, and Hansen eventually got the tap with the armbar!
Official Result: Kay Hansen def. Jinh Yu Frey via submission (armbar), 2:26 of Round 3.
