Las Vegas, NV – There have always been plenty of example of questionable judging, and fighters have been the ones on the losing end of some bad decisions, but UFC strawweight Michelle Waterson-Gomez approached judges to ask about scoring prior to her rematch with Marina Rodriguez at UFC Vegas 79 on Saturday night.
“I know that it’s been kind of a hot topic the entire year as far as the judges decisions on quite a bit of fights, and so for me, what I did was I actually talked to some judges,” Waterson-Gomez told reporters on Wednesday.
“I asked them what they were looking for in the fights because at the end of the day those decisions are in their hands. As a fighter, I have an idea of what it is to win, but maybe they have a different idea.”
As backwards as that sounds Waterson-Gomez sees it as having to do what you have to do to win.
“If that’s what I have to do, like, sometimes you’ve got to play the game. If that’s a game then I’m going to play it. If I want to continue to train, I want to continue to fight, I can’t just complain about it. I just got to play the game,” she said.
Just in time for the rematch with Rodriguez, their first fight was in 2015 which Rodriguez took by decision, and for Waterson-Gomez it’s a chance to get that one back and even the score.
“I’ve never had a rematch in my entire MMA career so it’s really exciting for me. This fight with Marina particularly because her and I took that match with like two weeks notice. It was main event, it went 5 rounds, we fought at 125-pounds. So it was kind of like a whirlwind,” she said.
“Huge opportunity, do it. And I thought I did really well for the amount of time that I had. We went all 5 rounds, I landed some really good shots, I just wasn’t able to capitalize on those shots.”
Now with the rematch upon her she looks to make good on those opportunities this time around.
“This time we’re fighting at 115 so she’s going to have to come down. We’re going to be closer in size. I think that I have the pace. I think that I have the cardio, the creativity, and more well-rounded fighter. I just have to capitalize on those things that I wasn’t able to capitalize the first time around,” said Waterson-Gomez.
“I believe that will give me the victory.”
Watch the the rest of Michelle Waterson-Gomez’s media day scrum above. She takes on Marina Rodriguez at UFC Vegas 79 on Saturday night.
