UFC veteran Trey Waters joins PFL for welterweight debut against Trukon Carson in Charlotte

Trey Waters is heading to the Professional Fighters League. The UFC veteran, who compiled a 2-1 record inside the octagon, has signed with PFL and will make his SmartCage debut on August 7 in Charlotte, North Carolina, as part of the promotion’s Summer Series.

Waters (9-2 overall) will open his PFL account against homegrown welterweight Trukon Carson, a Charlotte-based fighter who carries a 6-1 record and has finished five of his six opponents in the first round. Carson’s only career decision came in his lone distance fight, and he last competed in March under the Fury FC banner. The matchup represents a significant step up in competition for the 26-year-old, who is nicknamed “The Carolina Gamedog.”

Waters brings meaningful top-level experience to the bout. Before his UFC run, he appeared on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2022, where he suffered a submission loss to Gabriel Bonfim — a fighter who has since risen to contender status at welterweight. Waters went on to post a 2-1 mark in the UFC before his release, and his signing gives PFL a proven commodity to test its regional prospects against.

The Charlotte card is headlined by a middleweight clash between Bryan Battle (12-3) and Dalton Rosta (11-3), two fighters with strong PFL pedigrees. The undercard also features Joshua Silveira (15-5) against Aaron Jeffery (16-6), Josh Fremd (12-6) taking on Jhony Gregory (11-4), and Jay-Jay Wilson (12-2) squaring off with veteran Amin Ayoub (24-7-1).

For Carson, a win over Waters would immediately establish him as a legitimate name in PFL’s welterweight division. For Waters, the move to PFL offers a fresh platform and a path back toward the upper tier of the sport’s 170-pound landscape.