Trey Waters | Healed Up And Hungry

“My knee was very unstable,” Waters explains. “I could not move laterally. I actually couldn't move very much at all. That's why Billy was able to just walk me down, and he just pressured me the whole time, which is his game plan. But he would not have been able to do it. If you look at the first minute of the fight, because I heard it in the first minute, but the first minute of the fight, if you look, I was moving and I kind of stumbled him, almost dropped him in the very beginning. I was good. I was able to move, but then I was compromised the whole fight. I was not able to move. I was not able to have any power in my shots. So people don't even really understand how compromised I was in that fight and how much different it's going to be this time, me being a hundred percent.”

This time, Waters is far from his home in Jacksonville, Florida, as he prepares to meet Sam Patterson in Paris on Saturday. It’s one of the most intriguing fights on the card, and not just because it pits the two tallest welterweights in the division against each other. But when the 6-5 Waters takes on the 6-3 Patterson, the American isn’t planning on getting a Fight of the Night bonus again. A Performance of the Night bonus? That’s more his speed heading into the weekend.

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“My last fight, it was great fight,” he said. “It was very entertaining. We got Fight of the Night for a reason, but I did not like my performance because I was completely compromised. So I'm sure Sam looks at that fight and thinks that that's the Trey that he's going to fight. But man, it's totally different when I have my knee and I'm able to move and I'm able to really sit down on the shots. It's a difference.”

So with a clean bill of health and his movement and power in working order, Waters is confident that he will move to 3-0 in the Octagon in impressive fashion.

“My back leg, that's all my power, that's all my movement,” he said. “Those are two big components that I use, and the last time I was able to adapt and overcome. So yeah, it definitely boosts my confidence for this fight.”

And while you might think that fighting someone close to his size might rattle the 30-year-old a bit, Waters has been there and done that in his pre-UFC days, and in preparation for Patterson, getting rounds in with fellow welterweight up and comer Phil Rowe (who checks in at 6-3) has only helped him go into Accor Arena with nothing but positive vibes.

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“Not only am I tall, but I'm really good at using my range and the distance management,” said Waters. “So I'm very excited for this matchup. The fan in me is very excited because Sam's good. He's very good, he's very technical, he's fundamentally sound, and his striking is sharp. He's long, he knows how to use range and he's very calculated. He doesn't have much wasted movement. And I just love it. I love the matchup. I feel like this is really going to show my skill, and I'm just grateful. I know a win over Sam, especially a finish, will get me where I want to go.” 

He's right. It may have taken a little 16-month detour, but here he is, ready to pick up where he left off.

“My perspective is that when things happen, we just got to control the controllables and I just had to work around what I could not do,” Waters said. “And regardless, I'm always growing and I'm always getting better. And what truly matters is the progress. I'm grateful and I'm just excited.”