The hour grows late for
Michelle
Waterson.
Still on the periphery of title contention as a Top 10 women’s
strawweight in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship, “The Karate Hottie” will face
Amanda
Lemos in the
UFC on ABC 3 co-main event this Saturday at the UBS Arena in
Elmont, New York. Waterson has lost three of her past four bouts.
She last appeared at UFC on ESPN 24, where she wound up on the
wrong side of a unanimous decision against
Marina
Rodriguez on May 8, 2021. Lemos, meanwhile, has rattled off
five wins in six outings. However, the former
Jungle
Fight champion finds herself on the rebound after submitting to
a
Jessica
Andrade arm-triangle choke in the first round of their UFC
Fight Night 205 pairing on April 23.
As Waterson and Lemos polish off their latest training camps, a
look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this
point:
36: Years of age for Waterson, who was born in Aurora, Colorado, on
Jan. 6, 1986.
9: Waterson wins by submission, accounting for 50% of her career
total (18). Her methods of choice: five armbars and four rear-naked
chokes. Waterson holds three other wins by knockout or technical
knockout (17%) and six more by decision (33%).
128: Significant strikes landed by Waterson in a five-round split
decision over former
Invicta Fighting Championships titleholder
Angela Hill
in the UFC Fight Night 177 headliner on Sept. 12, 2020. It
established a high-water mark for the Greg Jackson protégé.
15: Seconds needed for Waterson to submit
Rosary
Califano with a flying armbar at an Extreme Beatdown show on
Feb. 13, 2010. Having occurred more than 12 years ago, it remains
her fastest finish to date.
98: Combined victories between the nine opponents—Rodriguez,
Carla
Esparza,
Joanna
Jedrzejczyk,
Tecia
Torres,
Rose
Namajunas,
Herica
Tiburcio,
Elena Reid,
Lynn
Alvarez and
Alicia
Gumm—who have defeated Waterson. They sport a .726 cumulative
winning percentage (98-35-2).
35: Years of age for Lemos, who was born on May 22, 1987 in Belem,
Brazil.
7: Lemos victories by knockout or technical knockout, accounting
for 64% of her career total (11). Her list of UFC victims:
Montserrat
Ruiz and
Livinha
Souza. Lemos owns two other victories by submission (18%) and
two more by decision (18%).
8: First-round finishes on the Lemos resume, including one of the
sub-minute variety. She buried Ruiz with punches in just 35 seconds
at UFC on ESPN 26 a little more than a year ago.
5: Knockdowns landed by Lemos as a UFC women’s strawweight, placing
her first on the promotion’s all-time list at 115 pounds. She ranks
ahead of Namajunas (four), Hill (three),
Weili Zhang
(two),
Silvana
Gomez Juarez (two) and two others: Rodriguez (two) and
Hannah
Cifers (two).
.703: Cumulative winning percentage between the two
opponents—Andrade and
Leslie
Smith—who have beaten Lemos. They boast a combined record of
45-18-1.