The first fight of the night on the UFC Fight Night 29 was an outstanding three round fight between Michelle Waterson the “Karate Hottie” and “Cast Iron” Cortney Casey.
First Round:
In the first round Michelle Waterson came out using a lot of movement with Cortney Casey taking a very straight forward Muay Thai stance trying to walk Waterson down. Waterson was doing a lot of side to side movement, stifling a lot of what Cortney Casey was bringing. Cortney Casey was really looking to the one-two, she had a couple of teeps but was mostly using the one-two. She also had a couple of leg kicks but Michelle Waterson did a good job of staying out of range for the most part. Casey was able to land a pretty good shot as they moved about three minutes into the first round. Michelle Waterson clinched up and got a good outside trip takedown against the fence. Cortney Casey did a really good job threatening off of her back with the arm bar and the triangle, but Michelle Waterson with a little bit of ground and pound ends the first round on top.
Second Round:
The second round starts with Cortney Casey still stalking but Michelle Waterson is able to grab a snatch single and gets Casey to the ground where Casey really starts attacking with the arm bar and the triangle. Casey was able to get Michelle Waterson in the arm bar a couple of times, but Waterson was able to step around, get out, and get herself to half guard and threatening. Casey should have done a little bit more work trying to get to her feet. She was doing pretty good work on her feet stalking Michelle Waterson, but she wasn’t cutting off the rings, she was just following. If she had cut off the cage a little more she probably would have been able to land a couple of her left hooks as Michelle Waterson was trying to circle out. At the end of the second round Michelle Waterson got a real nice teep that pushed Cortney Casey all the way across the octagon, made her fall and it looked really good. It probably wasn’t super powerful but it looked nice.
Third Round:
In the third round Cortney Casey comes out still trying to stalk but Michelle Waterson. They do a little bit of clinch work against the cage and Michelle Waterson gets a very nice snatch single take down. The DC kept calling it a high crotch, but I don’t think he understands what a high crotch is. (So if he’s an Olympian he should go back to practice) That was a snatch single that she kept hitting and she did a really nice job snatching up the single leg, and running the pipe. Cortney Casey at the end of the third round was really threatening with that arm bar and almost got it straightened out. If she had another 20 or 30 seconds she may have finished that. Overall Michelle Waterson did a great job defending the submissions from the top with a little bit of ground and pound.
Split Decision:
This fight ended in a split decision. 29-28 Waterson, 29-28 Casey, and then 29-28 Waterson, so Waterson gets the split decision win . Cortney Casey, back to the drawing board, but a great fight by both ladies.
Additional Fight Reviews/Recaps from UFC Fight Night 29:
Dustin Poirier & Justin Gaethje
Israel Adesanya vs Marvin Vettori
Carlos Condit vs Alex Oliviera
