Michelle Waterson hopes to earn a title shot as quickly as possible after her win over Angela Hill at UFC Vegas 10 on Saturday night.
Waterson and Hill battled for five rounds in the card’s main event, with the former ultimately winning a split decision. The win separated Waterson from back-to-back decision losses to former UFC strawweight champions Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Carla Esparza, and reestablished her as one of the top fighters in the division.
Now back in the win column, she’s hoping to work her way to a strawweight title shot as quickly as possible.
“Whoever’s the next contender to fight for the belt,” Waterson said post-fight when asked who she wants to fight next (h/t MMA Fighting). “I want to get to the belt as fast as possible.”
While Waterson is now back in the win column, her fight with Hill was competitive and not everyone agreed with the decision. The fighter herself, however, was confident she’d done enough to win by the time the fifth round concluded.
“I was confident [I’d done enough]” Waterson said of the decision. “But we talked about this the whole time leading up to the fight, you never want to leave it in the hands of the judges.”
Contrary to these comments from Michelle Waterson, Angela Hill suggested post-fight that she believes she did enough to earn the W.
“Waiting to do press for my main event post speech,” Hill wrote on Instagram after losing to Waterson. “Gotta admit, was not happy after the dec, but hey we put on a great fight and it was close. I have to fix that. Back to the drawing board.
“On the bright side we got FOTN and I get to go to Fight Island next week to work the desk so I’m stoked for the future! Thanks to all for you support and being part of this journey, I promise to come back stronger and more dangerous, be it short notice or not.”
What do you think is next for Michelle Waterson after UFC Vegas 10?