Preview: UFC Fight Night 202 Prelims

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Women’s Strawweights

NR | Jinh Yu Frey (11-6, 2-2 UFC) vs. NR | Hannah Goldy (6-2, 1-2 UFC)

ODDS: Frey (-180), Goldy (+155)

This is a fascinating fight, even if it does not figure to be particularly exciting. It was nice to see Frey get the UFC call early in the pandemic. Long one of the best atomweights in the world, it was unclear if she would ever get a run in a major promotion outside of her natural weight class. Frey’s style depends on separating herself as a powerful athlete, as she tends towards a low-volume, high-power approach and a dedication to the grind. It was a style with narrow margins even at atomweight, and the worry was that it just would not work for Frey at 115 pounds. She suffered a come-from-behind armbar loss against Kay Hansen in her UFC debut, then clearly lost her next fight to Konklak Suphisara due to her low output. However, Frey has righted the ship with grinding wins over Gloria de Paula and Ashley Yoder. Again, they did not result in particularly exciting performances, but wins are wins inside the Octagon. Frey will face Goldy in a bit of a mirror match, as “24K” has a lot of the same issues. A similarly short and muscular fighter, Goldy is much more of a high-output striker but also does not particularly press the issue. Even as a stockier fighter, Goldy prefers to remain patient and stay at range. Goldy got outworked in her first two UFC fights, and her third assignment against Emily Whitmire was going down much the same path until she surprisingly clamped on a fight-ending armbar to get back in the win column. She certainly has a shot here. Frey presses the issue even less than Goldy does, so a lot of this fight figures to be a bit of a staring contest, with the underdog throwing out some ineffective volume. Frey does seem to have more of a process and is more proven as a wrestler, so she is the rightful favorite, but this figures to be an ugly affair that depends greatly on whether the former Invicta Fighting Championships titleholder can get Goldy to the mat. The pick is Frey via decision.

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