Marina Rodriguez overcomes travel woes with dominant UFC earn about Michelle Waterson

Marina Rodriguez did not arrive in Las Vegas until Thursday, two times afterwards than every other fighter on the card. The Brazil native had struggles having a visa into the United States mainly because of COVID-19 and used 20 hrs in journey over Wednesday and Thursday early morning.

None of that ended up mattering Saturday.

Rodriguez defeated Michelle Waterson, applying her Muay Thai placing successfully en route to a unanimous selection (48-47, 49-46, 49-46) earn in the UFC Battle Night time principal celebration in Las Vegas. It was one of the most effective performances of Rodriguez’s occupation.

“There have been so quite a few troubles, but the big detail was just armoring my brain,” Rodriguez explained soon after the battle via a translator. “The complete group place our shields up. We realized it would be distinctive and we could not be shaken by it.”

The originally scheduled primary celebration Saturday was former bantamweight winner TJ Dillashaw using on top rated contender Cory Sandhagen. But Dillashaw withdrew last week since of personal injury. That bout will be rebooked. Rodriguez and Waterson failed to concur to this bout — up a division at flyweight simply because of the timing — until April 27, and the UFC did not make it formal until this previous Tuesday.

The 1st a few rounds showcased Rodriguez chewing Waterson up with large correct arms, knees out of a Thai clinch and elbows with Waterson versus the cage. As difficult as Rodriguez experimented with, however, she could not get the durable Waterson out of there. And Waterson mounted a enormous comeback in the fourth round.

Waterson took Rodriguez down in the fourth and landed major elbows from 50 % guard. In the fifth round, Waterson landed a head kick that wobbled Rodriguez and induced bad inflammation on the remaining of her jaw. Waterson followed that up with a aspect kick to the system that plainly harm Rodriguez. In that last, eventful spherical, Rodriguez was in a position to rating a head kick late that did damage to Waterson.

Coming in, ESPN had Rodriguez ranked No. 6 in the environment at strawweight and Waterson rated No. 9. Rodriguez explained the critical factor about overcoming her prefight journey chaos “was we were equipped to arrive in, display the work we did and get the victory even with almost everything heading towards us.”

Rodriguez added that she aims to target a top rated-3 opponent — possibly Joanna Jedrzejczyk — for her future battle and reported she feels like she is shut to a title shot.

The bout took place with COVID-19 protocols in result at the UFC Apex, the facility throughout the road from the promotion’s company campus.

Rodriguez (14-1-2) has just 1 decline in 7 UFC outings and now has two straight wins. The Muay Thai expert was coming off a second-spherical TKO earn above prospect Amanda Ribas in January. Rodriguez, 34, has shed only to former champion Carla Esparza in the UFC, but she has a pair of attracts against Cynthia Calvillo and Randa Markos.

Waterson (18-9) is the former Invicta FC atomweight winner and one of the most well-known women’s fighters on the UFC roster. Fighting out of New Mexico, Waterson was coming off a split selection gain above Angela Hill final September, which snapped a two-fight getting rid of skid. Waterson, 35, has received four of six fights overall.

“[Waterson is] so knowledgeable,” Rodriguez stated. “That is the issue I realized going into it. When she was Invicta winner, that was [around the same time as] my initially Muay Thai course. I looked up to her, also. I realized she was pretty rough. To go five rounds with her and acquire, it’s an amazing feat for my vocation.”