June 27 — If raising your hand was the only measure of success and status in the UFC, Michelle Waterson-Gomez might not still be on the roster.
Still, four consecutive losses and all, at 38 years old, she’s still there. The strawweight from Albuquerque faces Canadian Gillian Robertson on Saturday at UFC 303 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Wins and losses alone, says Waterson-Gomez, do not define the sport. Nor do they define your career.
It goes without saying – we’ll say it anyway – Waterson-Gomez (18-12) is eager, highly motivated, to snap that four-game losing streak.
“Victory fills your heart,” she said this week during a press conference in Las Vegas. “It’s good to win, not just for yourself, for your family, for everyone who puts time in the gym, for your coaches. That’s why I love winning.”
And still …
“That said, my MMA record is a blip, a piece of dust, compared to everything else I’ve been able to accomplish in my martial arts career, let alone my life.”
She’s safe in the knowledge, she said, that, win or lose, she’s never given less than her best — and will do so again against Robertson (13-8) on Saturday. No doubt that’s partly why she’s still a UFC fighter in good standing.
Then there’s Michelle, the internet star – the Michelle with 1.6 million Instagram followers. Don’t think for a moment that the UFC doesn’t value these things.
Over the course of her 18-year professional MMA career, half of that time and 14 of her 30 fights in the UFC, Waterson-Gomez got married and had a daughter. She has worked as a model, stuntwoman and actress, fitness guru and restaurant owner.
It’s all part of her profile. And that’s the short list of the life that she and her husband, former boxer Josh Gomez, have built for themselves and their daughter Araya.
During the press conference, Waterson-Gomez was asked about the biggest change she has seen since starting her MMA career.
“I think the biggest thing that has changed is social media,” she said. “It’s in our hands (as athletes), so it’s basically up to us to create our own brand or not.”
Waterson-Gomez said younger fighters at Albuquerque’s Jackson-Wink MMA have asked her how they should build their own brand.
She told them, “Yes, you’re an incredible fighter. Yes, you can knock people out. But the UFC wants more than that.
“Fighting, as much as we want to say it’s just that, it’s not. It’s a business. It’s entertainment. We have to be able to tell our own story.”
Regarding Saturday’s fight against Robertson, the storyline has been Waterson’s striking against Robertson’s ground. The Ontario native, who trains in Florida, has nine submission wins among her 13 professional MMA wins.
Waterson-Gomez doesn’t disagree with that assessment, but argues that MMA fights are like snowflakes.
“You can’t look at statistics when it comes to MMA,” she said. “Every time a fighter steps into the Octagon, they’re a different fighter. They’re fighting on a different day and against a different opponent. … We’re always growing and evolving.”
Her own submission skills, she said, should not be underestimated.
“If (the fight) goes to the ground, I’ll be excited to go to the ground,” she said. “I have a lot of cool things that I’ve been working on for the last five, six, 18 years that I’d like to showcase.
“I’m a mixed martial artist, a complete fighter.”
OLD WEEK AT HOME: Two of Waterson-Gomez’s former Jackson-Wink teammates, heavyweight Andrei Arlovski and featherweight Cub Swanson, are scheduled to fight on Saturday’s card. All three are assigned to the same locker room.
“I think it’s really cool to be able to have that camaraderie and that deep bond,” she said. “It’s something you will always be able to maintain and cherish.”
Unlike Arlovski and Swanson, and so many others, Waterson-Gomez chose to remain at one gym, Jackson-Wink, throughout his career.
She doesn’t cast aspersions.
“To each their own,” she said. “Some people feel that when they are going through a difficult time in their careers, they need to go somewhere else, and maybe this is the answer.
“But for me, whenever I go through a difficult situation, I always feel like I have to do some introspective work and see what I’m missing. … I take on this responsibility and it falls on my shoulders. , not my camp.”
