Michelle Waterson Aiming to Become UFC’s First-Ever Active Mom-Champ

After losing two consecutive bouts inside the Octagon in 2017, the future became somewhat bleak for Michelle Waterson. A submission loss to Rose Namajunas and a decision loss to Tecia Torres morphed “The Karate Hottie” from would-be superstar to yesterday’s news.

But then things changed.

Waterson (17-6) turned things around against Cortney Casey at UFC on Fox 29 last April. She entered the bout as an underdog, won a split decision and then entered her next bout against Felice Herrig as an underdog. Waterson won that one bya unanimous nod and then made her way to Philadelphia on Saturday against Poland’s Karolina Kowalkiewicz. Even though the Pole was coming off a loss, the MMA experts were a bit bullish on Waterson and, for the third time in a row, she was the underdog.

Waterson was masterful against Kowalkiewicz on Saturday. She picked her apart on the feet with her karate kicks to the legs and body. She peppered her with scattered punches upstairs. And after she tossed her to the canvas, Waterson controlled every second of the battle. In fact, “The Karate Hottie” fought her opponent’s fight and dominated.

“Her strengths are her pressure and clinch work,” she said after her triumph. “I told myself if I could stop her forward pressure with straight punches, it would slow her down and I could find more openings.

“As the fight went on, I think she was getting frustrated because every time she was coming in, I was catching her,” she added. “I was really looking to take her down, but she was a lot better than I anticipated.”

Understandably, Waterson was jubilant with her performance. She had just won her third straight fight and has returned to the same track that eventual strawweight champion Namajunas derailed her from. Waterson is quickly ascending the rankings ladder and doesn’t want to slow down one bit, and only wants to face women perched above her on the rungs.

“She’s ranked Top 6 in the world for a reason,” she said. “I don’t know who I want next, but someone in the Top 5. I want someone that’s going to get me closer to the gold.”

And if the Jackson-Wink MMA representative continues to win and does snatch gold from either Namajunas or someone else, provided “Thug” loses her 115-pound crown, Waterson will have made history. Waterson declared after her win on Saturday that she has a goal to do something nobody on Earth has ever done.

The only female fighter in UFC history to be both mother and world champion is Miesha Tate, but “Cupcake” became a mommy after she retired from MMA. Waterson has plans on achieving that in reverse.

“I want to be the first mother world champion in the UFC,” she declared. “I want to be the first mom-champ.”