Matt Frevola gave fans an early contender for Fight of the Night at UFC 270, defeating Genaro Valdez via TKO inside of the first round.
Kicking off the televised prelims at UFC 270 — assuming there were no further last minute cancellations after two bouts fell off the event Friday — were lightweights Matt Frevola and Genaro Valdez.
DWCS alum Valdez was making his promotional debut in the fight, while “Steamrolla” Frevola was looking to snap a two-fight skid.
A fight that was under the radar, Frevola vs. Valdez stole the show in Anaheim.
Frevola and Valdez opened up swinging right out of the gate, with Frevola scoring most of his hooks early. Hating the feeling out process, both men quickly began trading absolute bombs for the entirety of the first round, as long as it lasted. However, it was Frevola who was getting most of the success with the hands. Frevola knocked down Valdez four if not five (if not more) times within the first few minutes of the round, but Valdez refused to stay down and showed tons of heart. After what appeared to be a fifth knockdown, Frevola stopped trying bludgeon Valdez to death and instead looked for a submission.
Valdez did his best to survive and was able to avoid a submission attempt while giving his back to the veteran. However, Valdez was unable to do defend while Frevola was raining down blows from the back mount. A few hard-to-watch follow-up shots later, and Matt Frevola was back to his winning ways after scoring the TKO victory thanks to a stoppage from referee Mike Beltran.
How is he surviving?! @MattFre16 is just UNLEASHING on him 🤯 #UFC270 pic.twitter.com/QFKaATxbFn
— UFC (@ufc) January 23, 2022
It’s very early in the UFC 270 card, but there’s already an easy Fight of the Night contender for Matt Frevola vs. Genaro Valdez. For Frevola, he’s back on the winning track with one of the best fights of the year. Valdez on the other hand is now 0-1 inside the UFC’s octagon.
The UFC record for knockdowns in a fight, for those curious, is 5, set first in 2006 by Forrest Petz and against in 2017 by Jeremy Stephens. Frevola appeared to match that in a round. After the bout, the UFC would credit Frevola with four, tying a single-round record set by Josh Emmett and Khalil Rountree Jr.
Official Result: Matt Frevola def. Genaro Valdez by TKO, Round 1, 3:15
