On September 6, 2022, US Virgin Islands born fighter Karl Williams competed on Week 7 of Dana White’s Contender Series, a platform where fighters do battle to earn a UFC contract.

The 33-year-old heavyweight was able to secure a unanimous decision win over American Jimmy Lawson and secure a contract with the world’s biggest Mixed Martial Arts promotion.

On March 11, Williams won his UFC debut at UFC Fight Night 221-Yan vs Dvalishvili.

He was able to dominate 30-year-old Polish fighter Lukasz Brzeski on the way to a unanimous decision win.

“Have fun and see where it goes,” was the game plan for the fight according to Williams.

“I wanted to come up with a game plan but I decided to just go out there and have fun. I prepared for everything so I just saw what he gave me and enjoyed,” he added.

Williams, who now boasts an 8-1 record in professional MMA, was born in the US Virgin Islands and now lives and trains in Atlanta.

With regards to his UFC debut, Williams says he was in awe.

“It was everything and more. I’m sitting in front of all these cameras. People aren’t going to see what I’m seeing, but this is amazing. The crowd, the people backstage, everything in the UFC leading up to this was just wonderful.”

Williams, who has competed at light-heavyweight (205 pounds) in the past, signaled his intentions to remain at heavyweight and return to the octagon as soon as possible.

“Not at all,” was his response to the media’s questions about a possible return to light heavyweight.

“The best thing about the UFC is having the performance institute (P.I.). Right after my fight on the Contender Series, I was staying here (in Las Vegas) to corner Chris Barnett and I went to the P.I. for a week and did all these tests. I was 237 thinking I was fat and out of shape. Then, when I went there and did a DEXA scan (scan to test bone density), they told me I had a lot of muscle so it would be hard for me to get down to 205. So, I took the easy way out and said I’ll just stay at heavyweight.”