Nu till helgen kommer stråviktaren Michelle Waterson att utmana den tidigare mästarinnan Carla Esparza under galan UFC 249. Matchen kan dock vara viktigare än någon annan match för Waterson, som spekulerar i att en vinst kan leda henne till en titelmatch.
Historisk gala
I en intervju med BJPenn.com berättar Waterson att hon ser fram emot att gå match på UFC 249. Detta då hon anser att det kommer att bli en historisk gala med tanke på de omständigheter den hålls under.
I have to say, I’ve been on a lot of cards. I headlined against Paige VanZant, headlined against Joanna Jedrzejczyk, and was on the undercard of Khabib and Conor which was insane. You always think it can’t be top but here it is, we are in a pandemic but the UFC is continuing on and push forward and I get to be part of that. When I think about it, I think about how this will be talked about in history. I’m excited to fight Carla as we’ve been scheduled to fight since April.
Vinst kan leda till titelmatch
Waterson berättar även att hon tror en vinst kan leda till en titelmatch då många av de fighters som befinner sig i toppen av rankingen inte är tillgängliga.
We always want to fight and I want to fight someone that gets me closer to the title. I need to beat her to get closer to that title fight. It puts me in talks to fight for the belt. I’m not sure how Tatiana is doing with her injury and I believe Nina is pregnant. There are not too many other girls at the top of the rankings. I am just one win away after this.
Waterson tror även att hon har goda chanser att segra i mötet mot Esparza då hon själv är bra där Esparza har sina största styrkor.
That’s the thing. Her bread and butter is her wrestling but I have really good statistics with my wrestling and jiu-jitsu. If it hits the ground I’m 100 percent comfortable there. The majority of my wins are by submission. So, people who fight me have to think twice about going to the ground. Carla has worked a lot on her kickboxing and I think she’ll stand and bang with me for a while. What’s going to happen is she’s going to get frustrated and try and take me down which will get stuffed. She’ll shoot at desperation and fall into a submission or get knocked out.
Matchen mellan Waterson och Esparza kommer att äga rum på UFC 249 som går av stapeln i Jacksonville, USA nu till helgen.
