It’s a quality matchup for the talented Brazilian as she looks to bounce back by taking out a fighter currently positioned ahead of her in the rankings.
“She’s No. 10 — she’s ranked above me — and is a very experienced fighter, Lemos said of Waterson, who enters having lost three of her last four appearances. “She moves a lot, and she comes from karate, so she uses a lot of her legs. It will definitely be an exciting matchup for the fans.”
And Lemos intends to do everything in her power to ensure the fans come away from Saturday’s penultimate pairing thoroughly entertained.
“She likes to leave it to the judges most of the time,” she said of Waterson, whose last four victories and last eight appearances have all gone the distance. “I don’t — I like to finish fights — so I trained a lot to stop her game; to keep her from scoring points throughout the rounds and finish her.”
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The matchup with Andrade in April was an opportunity for Lemos to potentially vault into the title conversation by beating a former champion, but things didn’t go the way she had hoped.
That being said, it was a great learning experience — a chance to share the Octagon with someone that has reached the division’s summit and to feel what it’s like to be in there with a fighter of that caliber — and with a victory over Waterson on Saturday afternoon on ABC, Lemos hopes to get another opportunity to stand across the cage from one of the top names in the strawweight ranks once more before the year is out.
