Allen Frye Jr. got his first UFC win Saturday and took RJ Harris’ unbeaten record with it, knocking Harris out at 2:59 of Round 1 at UFC Vegas 122.
It was the lone heavyweight fight on the Meta Apex card, streamed on Paramount+, and it fought like one. Nobody spent time feeling anything out. Frye threw a spinning kick early, the two traded heavy shots in the opening seconds, and about 30 seconds in Harris landed a jab that, per Cageside Press, appeared to stun Frye.
Harris owned the early going. He chopped at the outside of Frye’s lead leg, caught him walking in, and got two or three punches through on one combination. Frye ate it and kept throwing back, and pretty soon the clean shots were piling up on the other guy. MMA Junkie described Harris on shaky legs before the end.
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Once Frye saw it, he emptied the tank. MMA Junkie had the closing sequence starting with a counter left hook and a hard right, while Cageside counted four right hands to the side of the jaw. Either way, Harris went down, Frye followed him to the canvas still swinging, and referee Herb Dean stepped in.
Frye (7-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) was coming off the only loss of his career, a unanimous decision to Guilhereme Pat in December in his promotional debut. According to Cageside Press, all seven of his wins have come by KO or TKO in the first round. He doesn’t do scorecards unless someone forces him to.
Harris (6-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) debuted in July with a first-round finish of Alvin Hines, so he walked in with momentum and walked out with the first loss of his pro career. Cageside noted his hands stayed low the entire fight. That’s a habit a heavyweight can carry for a while on the way up, and it got exposed in under three minutes here.
Frye’s next opponent and return date didn’t come up in any of the post-fight coverage. The UFC posted his octagon interview to YouTube, and r/MMA had already moved on to coronations, with one thread anointing him the new Aspinall.
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Elsewhere on the early part of the card, Alice Pereira beat Daria Zhelezniakova by TKO when Zhelezniakova retired after Round 1, and Ernesta Kareckaite and Melissa Gatto fought to a majority draw (29-27, 28-28, 28-28).
My take: the Aspinall talk is a 7-1 guy’s highlight getting ahead of itself, but the skill I’d actually bet on is the one that never shows up in a GIF. Harris hit him clean early and often, and Frye stayed upright, kept his feet under him, and answered. Heavyweights who can take the first bomb and throw the last one are worth booking against anybody willing to stand in the pocket. Give him another slugger, put it on a Fight Night, and tell Herb Dean to stay close.
