Las Vegas — Canadian strawweight Gillian Robertson heads into UFC 303 this Saturday against the biggest name of her career in Michelle Waterson-Gomez.
A former Invicta FC atomweight champ, “The Karate Hottie” has had her ups and downs in the UFC, but Robertson (13-8) knows what to expect at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas this weekend.
“She’s a vet in the game. You’ve got to respect her, you’ve got to know she’s coming in there with her best fight,” Robertson told media outlets including Cageside Press during the UFC 303 media day. “She’s not going to making any dumb decisions, she’s going to be brining the best her. So I’ve got to be ready for it Saturday night.”
Robertson holds a small treasure’s worth of UFC records: most submissions by a female fighter, most wins by a female flyweight, highest top position percentage in women’s flyweight history, most submissions as a women’s flyweight. And in three fights since moving down to strawweight, “The Savage,” originally from Niagara Falls, Ontario, has two post-fight bonuses, both of the Performance of the Night variety.
You might expect her path to victory against Waterson-Gomez would be on the ground, given her submission prowess. Yet Robertson will, as always, look to be doing damage where ever the fight goes.
“I think you can kind of see it like that [striker versus grappler] a little bit, but for me especially, I don’t care if the fight goes to the ground. I’m just looking to do damage. I’m looking to get in there and force her into situations that she’s not comfortable in, force her into making bad decisions. It doesn’t matter if it goes to the ground to me. If we’re on the feet, on the ground, I’m going to be content as long as I’m doing damage.”
A win over a name like Michelle Waterson-Gomez should leave her sitting pretty after UFC 303. Robertson, however, is worried more about numbers.
“For me, names have never been important. It’s the numbers next to the names,” she stated. “If I want to be champ, I have to beat every single one to get there. So it doesn’t matter who you put in front of me, I’m taking that fight.”
Robertson also spoke with Cageside Press about her longtime coach, Din Thomas. Not surprisingly, she gave the veteran and UFC analyst a glowing review.
“Din Thomas is probably one of the smartest people I know, honestly. Just the way he approaches the game. I’ve went around the country, went to every big gym, I’ve talked to every big coach, and there’s nobody who actually treats the sport as MMA like Dean does. So many are approaching it as boxing, and jiu-jitsu, and wrestling. He is the first MMA coach that I know. I really feel it was fate that I walked into his gym when I was 16 years old. I was so blessed that we ended up working together.”
Watch the full UFC 303 media day appearance by Gillian Robertson above.
