Michelle Waterson is a martial artist from Colorado USA, currently ranked seventh contender in the women’s strawweight division of the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) and 23rd female strawweight fighter in the world by Fight Matrix.
Between 2013 and 2014, the former Invicta FC atomweight champion was ranked the No. 1 female atomweight fighter in the world.
Brief biography
Waterson was born in Colorado Springs on January 6, 1986 as Michelle E. Waterson. She was raised in Aurora and is of Thai descent.
She attended Aurora Central High School where she graduated in 2004, having worked as a fashion designer, before embarking on a career as a martial artist.
Michelle’s love for art didn’t start after high school but just from when she was much younger. She has been practicing karate since she was ten years old and holds a black belt in American Freestyle Karate. She is also trained in boxing, wrestling, WuShu, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and Muay Thai.
Career
She rose to fame when she participated in the Muay Thai Fight Girls reality show aired on the Oxygen TV network in 2006/2007, her appearance as a fighter on the MTV/MTV2 reality show Battle Beat, made her even more famous.
With the help of Donald Cerrone, Michelle Waterson made the transition from ring girl to fighter. She made her MMA debut in January 2007, at Ring of Fire 28, without amateur fights.
In December of the same year, she faced Freestyle Cage Fighting Champion Lynn Alvarez at Ring of Fire 31. She lost in the first round. The following year, she made her Strikeforce debut against Tyra Parker and won the fight in the first round with a rear-choke submission.
In March 2009, she faced Karina Taylor at the Duke City MMA Series and also won the first round.by the submission of the cuff. There was, however, some kind of controversy with the fight because Taylor did not shoot outside the armbar. The following month, she faced former IFBA Flyweight Boxing Champion and WIBA Champion Elena Reid at Apache Gold: Extreme Beatdown. Unfortunately, Reid defeated her in the second round by TKO.
After losing to Reid, she faced Rosary Califano and won in just 15 seconds via submission due to a flying armbar. In April 2010, she fought Yoshida at Crowbar MMA: Spring Brawl and won the fight in the first round by TKO.
In January 2012, she returned to MMA and fought Diana Rael at Jackson’s MMA Series 7.
In October 2012, at Invicta FC 3: Penne vs. Sugiyama, she faced Lacey Schuckman and defeated her in the fourth round via split decision. In April 2013, she fought against Jessica Penne for the Invicta FC Atomweight Championship. She won the fourth round by submitting to an armbar and became the new Invicta FC Atomweight Champion. In 2014, Michelle successfully defended her title by defeating Yasuko Tamada by TKO in the third round of the main event at Invicta FC 8.
In December of the same year, she fought Brazilian Hérica Tibúrcioat at Invicta FC and lost in the third round via guillotine submission.
UFC career
In 2015, Michelle Waterson officially signed with the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) and made her promotional debut in July 2012, in a match against Angela Magaña at the Ultimate Fighter 21 Finals.She defeated Angela in the third round via submission.
Her next fight was supposed to be against TeciaTorres, but she had to pull out due to a knee injury and sat out for over a year due to the injury. She returned in December 2016 to wrestle Paige VanZant.
Waterson won the fight in the first round via technical submission following a rear-end choke. This fight earned him his first Performance of the Night bonus bonus. Since then, Michelle Waterson won the fight against Cortney Casey at UFC on Fox 29 in Glendale and lost two fights. one against Rose Namajunas and the other against Tecia Torres.
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Michelle Waterson’s husband, Joshua Gomez
The Karate hottie as she has been nicknamed is married to former US Armed Forces amateur boxing champion, Joshua Gomez. The couple tied the knot in 2012 in a small ceremony at Hacienda Vargas in Algodones, in front of friends, family and many MMA teammates.
Prior to their marriage, they welcomed their first child together. Their adorable daughter, Araya, was born on March 18, 2011.
Other Details About Michelle Waterson
- Waterson was on the 2008 Knockouts schedule.
- She was also featured in Megadeth’s music video titled A Puzzle, from the album Endgame
- In 2014, she participated in the America Sports Entertainment competition. American ninja warrior but she did not qualify.
- In 2017, she participated in the MTV reality show The Challenge.