Waterson-Gomez suffered her fourth loss in five fights after UFC Long Island.
Michelle Waterson-Gomez is disappointed after her loss to Amanda Lemos at UFC Long Island this past Saturday.
The ‘Karate Hottie’ fought for the first time since dealing with a potentially ‘career-ending’ injury that forced her out of fights with Amanda Ribas at UFC Vegas 52 and UFC 274, respectively. She hoped to return to form against Lemos, but Waterson-Gomez left the Octagon with a loss—after getting caught in a guillotine choke during the second round of their fight.
The loss to the Brazilian was an unfortunate outing, but Waterson-Gomez has vowed to continue on with her career.
“I’m super bummed — gutted, actually, about the loss,” said Waterson-Gomez in her post-fight comments on Instagram. “I had an amazing camp, such amazing people around me including my teammates, my coaches, my friends, my family, my loved ones helping me prepare for this camp. Best shape I’ve been in my life. Mentally, I was prepared. I felt good in the fight. I felt strong, and it was that split-second opportunity that Amanda was able to capitalize on, and hats off to her for seeing that and taking it.
“Like I said, I’m bummed but this isn’t the end of my story,” continued Waterson-Gomez. “I’m not inured, I’m healthy, I have my family. So I’m just going to enjoy the ride and keep training. I’m healthy, so I’ll stay ready and hopefully I’ll be able to be back in there as soon as possible.”
Waterson-Gomez is now 1-4 in her past five appearances. The 37-year-old suffered consecutive defeats to Joanna J?drzejczyk and Carla Esparza, but rebounded with a split decision over Angela Hill in a ‘Fight of the Night’ awarded performance at UFC Vegas 10 nearly two years ago.
The former Invicta FC champion accepted a short-notice flyweight fight against Marina Rodriguez at UFC Vegas 26, where she fell short and lost a unanimous decision. Waterson-Gomez was then sidelined for a year over her aforementioned injury until the fight against Lemos.