Angela Hill, Michelle Waterson (©UFC)

Michelle “The Karate Hottie” Waterson, 34, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States has earned her fifth victory in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The Thai-Chinese-American mixed martial artist recently battled it out with Angela “Overkill” Hill, 35, of San Diego, California, USA.

On September 12, 2020, Waterson and Hill headlined “UFC Fight Night 177,″ also known as “UFC on ESPN+ 35” or “UFC Vegas 10,” at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. It was a women’s strawweight contest refereed by Marc Goddard.

After five five-minute rounds, the strawweight contest was left in the hands of the three judges Chris Lee, Sal D’Amato and Derek Cleary. D’Amato scored it 49-46 and Cleary scored it 48-47 both in favor of Waterson.

On the other hand, Lee saw it 48-47 in favor of Hill. In the end, Goddard raised the hand of Waterson, who was declared the winner via split decision.

Hill had 131 significant strikes landed while Waterson had 128. The combined number was the fourth highest one in the women’s strawweight division of the UFC.

“UFC Vegas 10” featured 12 MMA matches, four of which were between female fighters. The women’s strawweight contest between Waterson and Hill was chosen as the Fight of the Night.

Waterson attended Aurora Central High School in Aurora, Colorado, USA and the University of Denver in Denver, Colorado. She was born on January 6, 1986 in Colorado Springs, Colorado to an American father and an Asian mother and spent the first two years of her life in Germany before moving back to the U.S.

On March 18, 2011, Waterson gave birth to Araya Waterson, her daughter with her husband Joshua Gomez, a former U.S. Armed Forces amateur boxing champion. Michelle has an older brother named Max Waterson and a younger sister named Shanna Waterson.

Among the Asian countries Michelle has visited are China, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Her mother, who is half Thai and half Chinese, grew up in Thailand.

Training at Jackson Wink MMA Academy in Albuquerque, Michelle is a black belt in American American freestyle karate. She is a purple belt in Brazilian jiujitsu under Rafael Freitas.