Ahead of UFC 208, Michelle Waterson shows appreciation for teammate Holly Holm

Tonight at UFC 208 in Brooklyn, New York, former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm will step into the Octagon against kickboxing veteran Germaine de Randamie for a highly anticipated showdown that will see one woman crowned the inaugural women’s featherweight champion.

Ahead of the fight, top ranked women’s strawweight, and Holly Holm’s Jackson-Winkeljohn teammate, Michelle Waterson, spoke to MMAJunkie to explain why Holm is one of her biggest mentors:

“She knows what she wants, and she doesn’t stop until she gets what she wants,” Waterson told MMAjunkie. “Every day, if she doesn’t get a technique right, she’s back at the gym that night to fix whatever she did wrong in the sparring session that morning. So, she’s very determined to get back on the winning streak.”

“Holly is one of my biggest mentors, and I look up to her so much,” Waterson said. “And it’s because she doesn’t talk; she’s not a talker. She’s a doer. She doesn’t talk the talk; she walks the walk. She’s the hardest working person I’ve ever met in my life. She runs six days a week, and within those, there are sprint runs and long-distance runs on top of her diet regimen.

“On top of her technique training with her jiu-jitsu, on top of her wrestling training, on top of the mitt work. And that’s not including the daily classes that she goes to. So, she’s a hard worker.”

Holm of course will be looking to snap a 2-fight skid when she squares off with de Randamie. Most recently, Holm was on the wrong end of a unanimous decision against Valentina Shevchenko. Prior to that, Holm lost the bantamweight title to Miesha Tate at UFC 196 in March, where she was choked out cold in the 5th round.

on 2/11/2017.