Michelle Waterson didn’t walk out of UFC Tampa with a victory and she addressed the defeat in her post-fight interview.
In the main event of UFC Tampa, “The Karate Hottie” went one-on-one with former UFC strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Waterson showed toughness throughout the fight, but she was simply outgunned by Jedrzejczyk. Waterson was beaten via unanimous decision.
Michelle Waterson Addresses UFC Tampa Loss
Speaking to Michael Bisping following the bout, Waterson explained what went wrong in her bout with Jedrzejczyk (via BJPenn.com).
“My intention wasn’t to come in here tonight and absorb a lot of damage. My intention was to win,” said an emotional Waterson. “And I am disappointed in myself but that’s the name of the game and you have to keep chugging forward. Like I said before, it was an honor to share the Octagon with Joanna. It was a huge mental feat to be able to stay focused all through fight camp and like I said it was an honor to share the Octagon with Joanna. It was never my intention to take damage. My intention was to win. I will go back to the drawing board and figure out … I know what I did wrong. You know I was reaching for the shots, instead of setting them up. Then I was getting stuck up against the cage and caught, instead of getting off the cage I was being stubborn and trying to fight through it. So, you know, lesson learned and I’ll come back stronger.”
With the loss, Waterson’s three-fight winning streak has been snapped. “The Karate Hottie” went into her bout with Jedrzejcyzk coming off victories over Cortney Casey, Felice Herrig, and Karolina Kowalkiewicz.
