Trey Waters Record: 9-2-0

Contender Series setback and the road back

On the 2022 Contender Series, Waters ran into surging Brazilian grappler Gabriel Bonfim, who was 12-0 at the time and caught him with a first-round Von Flue choke — a rare and unforgiving finish that handed Waters the first loss of his career. Rather than derail him, the defeat sharpened his focus. He returned to LFA in April 2023 and knocked out Jalin Fuller in the second round to claim the LFA welterweight title, a statement performance that earned him a short-notice call to the UFC just weeks later.

UFC run

Waters made the most of his promotional debut in April 2023, taking a unanimous decision over previously unbeaten Josh Quinlan at UFC Fight Night to validate the hype. He followed it in May 2024 with another grinding unanimous-decision win, this time over Billy Ray Goff, showing he could win the rounds that the early-career finisher in him sometimes skipped. His momentum stalled in September 2025, when he was stopped by punches in the first round against Sam Patterson at UFC Fight Night, just the second loss of his career and a reminder of the margins at the elite level.

Fighting style

Waters is a genuinely balanced finisher, and his record reflects it: of his nine wins, three have come by knockout, three by submission and three by decision, for a 67 percent finish rate. That even split is unusual and speaks to a fighter who can hurt opponents on the feet, choke them on the mat, or simply out-work them across three rounds. His length and reach let him manage distance and pile up volume, while his guillotine and rear-naked choke remain live threats whenever a scramble breaks his way. The two blemishes on his ledger — a Von Flue choke and a first-round knockout — point to the defensive lapses he must keep tightening as the competition stiffens.

Career highlights

• LFA welterweight champion — knocked out Jalin Fuller in 2023 to win the Legacy Fighting Alliance title and earn his UFC call-up.
• Spoiled a perfect record on debut — beat previously unbeaten Josh Quinlan by unanimous decision in his first UFC appearance.
• Three-tool finisher — carries a balanced 3 KO / 3 submission / 3 decision win split and a 67 percent finish rate into the welterweight division.