2024 Contender Series grad “The Cuban Problem” Yadier del Valle made his promotional debut at UFC Vegas 106, taking on Connor Matthews in a featherweight fight.
del Valle was undefeated through his eight-fight professional MMA career, which had kicked off back in 2016. Matthews had come into the company by way of DWCS as well, in 2022, and had gone 2-2 through four UFC fights. The only problem, he’d lost his last two.
The opening round started and Del Valle got going with a hard inside leg kick, followed by one to the outside. He was active with the kicks early on, landing them with thudding power. Just minutes in, Matthews would get his kick caught and Del Valle got an easy takedown as a result. Connor Matthews worked to his knees but let Del Valle take his back and sink in the rear-naked choke. It didn’t take long before the tap came. A really clean and methodical performance by Yadier Del Valle in his promotional debut, and a very strong first impression.
With the victory, “The Cuban Problem” improves to 9-0 as a pro, with five of those victories coming by a mixture of knockouts and submissions.
Official Result: Yadier Del Valle def. Connor Matthews by Submission (rear-naked choke), Round 1, 2:54
