A strawweight battle between the popular ‘Karate Hottie’ and Arizona’s own Cortney Casey is set for UFC Glendale.
On Thursday, following an early report by AZ Central, the UFC confirmed a strawweight battle between Michelle Waterson and Cortney Casey. The addition marks the latest high profile fight added to the UFC Glendale card, otherwise known as UFC on FOX 29. The event is headlined by a promising lightweight scrap between Justin Gaethje and Dustin Poirier.
Strawweight showdown in Arizona, bantamweights battle in Atlantic City! @KarateHottieMMA meets @CastIron_Casey at #UFCGlendale, @FunkMaster_UFC takes on @36Johns at #UFCAC! pic.twitter.com/crP4wZrO1A
— UFC (@ufc) February 9, 2018
Waterson is currently ranked at 7 in the UFC’s official rankings for the 115lb division. Casey comes in at 12.
‘The Karate Hottie’ was last in action at UFC 218, where she lost a unanimous decision to Tecia Torres. Prior to that December 2017 loss, Waterson (14–6) had been submitted by Rose Namajunas at UFC on FOX 24.
Casey (7-5), meanwhile, has been trading wins and losses of late. She’s coming off a loss to Felice Herrig, also at UFC 218. With both women coming off losses, and on the same time table, this one appears to have been a no-brainer for the UFC.
Also announced Thursday was a bantamweight battle between Aljamain Sterling (14–3) and Brett Johns (15–0) at UFC Atlantic City, a.k.a UFC Fight Night 128. Sterling enters the bout off a loss to Marlon Moraes that snapped a two-fight win streak, a streak which included an upset of former champion Renan Barao.
Brett Johns, on the other hand, has been perfect in his career to date. In his last appearance at The Ultimate Fighter 26 Finale in December, he finished Joe Soto with a rarely seen calf slicer.
UFC on FOX 29 takes place April 14 at the Gila River Arena in Glendale, AZ. UFC Atlantic City goes down April 21 at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ.
