By:  | May 10, 2022 9:20 am

Jinh Yu Frey will be back in action at UFC Fight Night 209. The Rizin and Road FC veteran has been matched with Vanessa Demopoulos in a strawweight fight on July 9th.

Frey (11-6) was the newly crowned Invicta FC atomweight champion when she signed with the UFC. Her career inside the octagon got off to a bad start as she lost her first two fights.

Frey was submitted by Kay Hansen at UFC Vegas 4 and then dropped a decision to Loma Lookboonmee at UFC Fight Island 6.

Having lost two out of two her UFC future looked uncertain. But the Korean/American turned things around,  earning decision wins over Gloria de Paula at UFC Vegas 21 and Ashley Yoder at UFC Vegas 33.

Another win would surely see the 36 year old crack the top 15 for the first time. Her opponent is also unranked but is coming off a big win at UFC 270 in January.

Demopoulos (7-4) submitted Silvana Gómez Juárez with a second round armbar. It was her first UFC win and it earned her a $50,000 USD performance bonus.

Lightweight clash

Rafael Fiziev looks set to finally get his wish. The Tiger Muay Thai fighter was set to fight Rafael Dos Anjos on two different occasions and will look to make it third time lucky when the pair meet in the main event on July 9th.

Fiziev was forced to pull out of their previously scheduled bout in March after contracting Covid-19. Having recovered and returned to training in Phuket he will finally get to fight the former UFC lightweight champion.

Dos Anjos lost his first two UFC fights, just like Frey. He would go on to win his next three and remain on the roster for another 14 years, capturing the lightweight belt in 2015.

Best of the rest

The card does not have a location confirmed although it is likely to take place at the Apex Centre in Las Vegas. Antonina Shevchenko (9-4) who, like Fiziev, has spent a lot of time at Tiger Muay Thai, has been matched with Cortney Casey (10-9) in a flyweight fight.

UFC TBA, TBA, July 9th
Rafael dos Anjos vs. Rafael Fiziev (Lightweight)
Cynthia Calvillo vs. Nina Nunes (Flyweight)
Antonina Shevchenko vs. Cortney Casey (Flyweight)
Cody Garbrandt vs. Rani Yahya (Bantamweight)
Ronnie Lawrence vs. Saidyokub Kakhramonov (Bantamweight)
Tresean Gore vs. Josh Fremd (Middleweight)
Said Nurmagomedov vs. Douglas Silva de Andrade (Bantamweight)
Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Jamie Pickett (Middleweight)
Caio Borralho vs. Armen Petrosyan (Middleweight)
Jinh Yu Frey vs. Vanessa Demopoulos (Strawweight)