Michelle Waterson has revealed that Donald Cerrone was the fighter who convinced her to really pursue a mixed martial arts career.

For many years Donald Cerrone has been viewed as a legend in the world of mixed martial arts and, in particular, in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The man known as ‘Cowboy’ has enjoyed some incredible moments throughout the course of his career and upon his retirement earlier this month, he was quick to give advice to the future stars of tomorrow.

He’s also done that fairly often in the past with Michelle Waterson, who returns to action against Amanda Lemos on Saturday night, noting how much of an influence her former training partner had on her career.

“Donald’s actually, the one that got me into fighting,” she explained. “I was a young girl working at Hooters still doing martial arts I, he was the one that was like, you know, as the story goes, I was a ring girl and I actually watched him on a local circuit, not him, but the fight card. I was talking to the promoter, and I asked the promoter, hey, do you guys ever have female fighters? I think I’d be good at this. I’ve been doing martial arts for over 10 years.

“And the promoter kind of like didn’t really take me seriously and Donald had overheard came into my work and was like, Hey, if you’re serious about training, get your ass in the gym, and kind of the one that really introduced me to training and MMA.”

“I’ll ever be grateful for him and he’s the one that introduced me to Coach Wink and Coach Jackson out in Albuquerque and now I have a beautiful life with my husband and my daughter in Albuquerque now. He’s done that for a lot of people, he’s given people paths for a lot of people.”

Quotes via MMA News

Waterson will attempt to get back on the winning trail after falling to three defeats in her last four outings.

What kind of influence do you think Donald Cerrone has had on the sport of MMA? Will Michelle Waterson win this weekend?