Michelle Waterson talks near career-ending injury
CBS Sports’ Shakiel Mahjouri speaks with Michelle Waterson above – VIDEO
Michelle Waterson returns to the UFC octagon this weekend when she meets Amanda Lemos at UFC on ABC 3 in Long Island, New York.
“Karate Hottie” bounces back from the second-longest lay-off of her UFC career, the last time she stepped foot in the octagon was a unanimous decision loss to Marina Rodriguez in May 2021.
While the injury that prevented her from competing was never fully disclosed, Waterson says that it was serious enough to call “career-ending.”
“It did suck,” Waterson told Shakiel Mahjouri of CBS Sports. “It’s heartbreaking. In fight camp, there are going to be injuries that you can work through and there are going to be some that you can’t. Anybody that I have ever known to be a real fighter will try and fight through injuries. You never really go into a fight 100%. There are always going to be bumps and bruises here and there. You can’t be in a combat sport and not take bumps and bruises. This one wasn’t going away and it was getting worse. I had to make a decision. I have been fighting professionally for over 15 years now. I had to make a decision. Was I going to wreck my body and let my last couple of fights take a toll on me because I want to fight on a certain day? Or am I going to let my body heal and come out guns blazing and do what I want to do? Go out there, be a professional athlete, give my opponent 100% or as much of 100% percent as I can. I chose to do that.
“I’m good. I don’t think I would take the fight unless I was. I never want to go into a fight camp with something that might be an excuse for why I didn’t win. There should never be any excuses. I should be able to go in there and rock it.”
UFC on ABC 3 fight card:
Brian Ortega vs. Yair Rodriguez – 145 lbs
Michelle Waterson vs. Amanda Lemos – 115 lbs
Jingliang Li vs. Muslim Salikhov – 170 lbs
Matt Schnell vs. Sumudaerji – 125 lbs
Shane Burgos vs. Charles Jourdain – 145 lbs
Lauren Murphy vs. Miesha Tate – 125 lbs
Punahele Soriano vs. D. Lungiambula – 185 lbs
Ricky Simón vs. Jack Shore – 135 lbs
Bill Algeo vs. Herbert Burns – 145 lbs
Dustin Jacoby vs. Da Un Jung – 205 lbs
Dwight Grant vs. Dustin Stoltzfus – 185 lbs
Jessica Penne vs. Emily Ducote – 115 lbs
