Michelle Waterson explains why UFC 208 headliner Holly Holm is 'one of my biggest mentors'

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – For ex-bantamweight champion Holly Holm, Saturday’s UFC 208 event means not only the chance to become the UFC’s first women’s featherweight champion, but also a shot at redemption after a two-fight skid.

Whether Holm’s (10-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) plans will materialize is not entirely up to her, considering fellow headliner Germaine de Randamie (7-3 MMA, 3-1 UFC) certainly has her own ideas. But, as far as Holm’s end of the deal goes, she has at least one enthusiastic witness in teammate and UFC strawweight Michelle Waterson to attest on her behalf.

“She knows what she wants, and she doesn’t stop until she gets what she wants,” Waterson told MMAjunkie. “Every day, if she doesn’t get a technique right, she’s back at the gym that night to fix whatever she did wrong in the sparring session that morning. So, she’s very determined to get back on the winning streak.”

Coming off a big win of her own – a first-round submission of fellow strawweight Paige VanZant at last month’s UFC on FOX 22 – Waterson (14-4 MMA, 2-0 UFC) has all praise for her Jackson-Winkeljohn MMA stablemate, who started her professional run in 2011 after a highly successful career in pro boxing.

“Holly is one of my biggest mentors, and I look up to her so much,” Waterson said. “And it’s because she doesn’t talk; she’s not a talker. She’s a doer. She doesn’t talk the talk; she walks the walk. She’s the hardest working person I’ve ever met in my life. She runs six days a week, and within those, there are sprint runs and long-distance runs on top of her diet regimen.

“On top of her technique training with her jiu-jitsu, on top of her wrestling training, on top of the mitt work. And that’s not including the daily classes that she goes to. So, she’s a hard worker.”

If Holm indeed gets what she wants and beats de Randamie in the pay-per-view main event at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., she will become the first woman in UFC history to earn belts in different weight divisions. Prior to the title-costing loss to Miesha Tate, which was followed by the unanimous decision setback to Valentina Shevchenko, Holm had been undefeated in MMA.

De Randamie, in turn, is a former kickboxing champion and Strikeforce alum who comes in on the heels of a two-fight streak after her only octagon setback: a first-round TKO at the hands of current bantamweight titleholder Amanda Nunes.

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