Michelle Waterson vs. Marina Rodriguez was a solid fight.
The showdown served as the main event of the UFC Vegas 26 event on Saturday night (May 8, 2021) from Las Vegas, Nevada at the UFC Apex facility.
As seen in the fight, the first round was skippable as not a ton of action happened. They picked up the pace in the second round and loaded up on their strikes in addition to throwing leg kicks. When they did clinch, Marina got the better of Waterson with elbows and knee strikes in the gut.
In the third round, there was this wild moment where Waterson threw a kick, but fell down and when she got back to her feet, she ate a head kick. Marina unloaded with a flurry of strikes up against the fence. Waterson was landing, but just pushed through the strikes. Waterson worked over the lead leg well with kicks. In the fourth round, Waterson did score an all important takedown where she controlled the round in this spot. They exchanged strikes to finish out the fifth round. Marina walked away with the decision win.
A bout between former two-time UFC bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw and Cory Sandhagen was expected to serve as the main event, which would’ve marked Dillashaw’s first fight since his two-year suspension due to testing positive for EPO. However, Dillashaw announced that he had to pull out of the fight due to a cut he received from a headbutt in training
Waterson was coming off a decision win over Angela Hill in September 2020 while Rodriguez entered this fight with a 13–1–2 record.
Let’s see how the fighters reacted to the outcome of this fight:
UFC Vegas 26 Results: Michelle Waterson vs. Marina Rodriguez, Donald Cerrone vs. Alex Morono
