No. 9 ranked UFC strawweight Michelle Waterson makes her return to the octagon on Saturday in a flyweight bout that can assist as the vital match of UFC Vegas 26 towards no. 6 ranked strawweight contender Marina Rodriguez.
Waterson’s final fight used to be in Sept. 2020, where she took dwelling a atomize up decision victory towards no. 12 ranked Angela Hill within the vital match of UFC Vegas 10.
Rodriguez is coming off a really impressive 2nd spherical TKO victory over a highly touted prospect, the no. 11 ranked Amanda Ribas at UFC 257.
The principle match of UFC Vegas 26 used to be at the starting set presupposed to feature a bantamweight title eliminator between TJ Dillashaw and Cory Sandhagen. On the opposite hand thanks to Dillashaw being forced to pull out because of a laceration, the bout between Waterson and Rodriguez obtained bumped up from a three spherical bout to a 5 spherical vital match.
But for “The Karate Hottie”, the different used to be too sweet to trail up.
“I’ve been struggling with for cease to 15 years now and I do know that I most attention-grabbing obtained a couple correct years left in me, and the more that I realized that, the more that I must steal profit of every different when it provides itself,” Watseron said at UFC Vegas 26 media day. “It’s roughly be pleased, you don’t tag what it is possible you’ll well per chance maybe maybe moreover have till it’s long gone. I feel COVID confirmed all of us a vogue of that.
“I fancy this. I fancy to fight. I fancy to transfer available. I fancy to develop. I fancy the followers. I fancy the media, and occasionally it is possible you’ll well per chance maybe maybe shiny change into so tousled within the full monotony of struggling with. Of the finding out and the stress, and the negativity of the originate air noise and you ignore the full things that made you fall in fancy with it to originate with.”
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Waterson said she believes a victory over Rodriguez will screen to everyone that she is mild a premier contender.
“I truly be pleased this fight stylistically. Like I said, I’ve been in there with maybe the most efficient of maybe the most efficient strikers with Joanna [Jedrzejczyk] and Rose [Namajunas],” Waterson said. “I do know where I stand within the division. So I feel that is a big matchup for me to recount the sphere that I belong at the tip.”
Despite the truth that that is a flyweight bout because the fight coming collectively on such quick peer, it would no longer be a ways-fetched to guage this fight can have implications on the strawweight division.
