Michelle Waterson

Michelle Eileen Waterson-Gomez, born January 6, 1986, is an American former mixed martial artist, actress, stuntwoman, and model. She competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and is a former Invicta FC Atomweight Champion. Between 2013 and 2014, she was ranked as the top women's atomweight fighter in the world. She acquired the nickname "Karate Hottie" while working as a spokesmodel for a bikini website.

Waterson was born in Colorado Springs and raised in Aurora, Colorado. She is of European and Thai descent, with an American father and a Thai mother. After graduating from Aurora Central High School, she began modeling in 2004. She attended the University of Denver and worked as a waitress at Hooters before deciding to pursue a fighting career. Having developed an early interest in gymnastics, an inability to pay for classes led her to begin karate at age ten. She holds a black belt in American freestyle karate and trained in wushu, Muay Thai, kickboxing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, boxing, and wrestling. She rose to prominence on television as a contestant on the reality show Fight Girls and appeared on Bully Beatdown.

She made her professional mixed martial arts debut without prior amateur experience on February 16, 2007, defeating Andrea Miller at Ring of Fire 28. Over the next several years, Waterson competed across various promotions, including Strikeforce, where she defeated Tyra Parker, as well as Duke City MMA Series, Extreme Beatdown, Crowbar MMA, and Jackson's MMA Series.

In October 2012, Waterson made her Invicta Fighting Championships debut at Invicta FC 3, defeating Lacey Schuckman in a bout named Fight of the Night. On April 5, 2013, she challenged Jessica Penne for the Invicta FC Atomweight Championship at Invicta FC 5, winning the title via fourth-round armbar submission. She successfully defended her championship against Yasuko Tamada at Invicta FC 8 in September 2014 before dropping the title to Hérica Tibúrcio at Invicta FC 10 later that year.

Waterson officially signed with the UFC in April 2015 to compete in the Women's Strawweight division. She won her promotional debut against Angela Magaña in July 2015. Throughout her UFC career, she secured victories against Paige VanZant—earning a Performance of the Night bonus—as well as Cortney Casey, Felice Herrig, Karolina Kowalkiewicz, and Angela Hill, which earned a Fight of the Night award. Following her win against Hill, she received her BJJ brown belt. After facing opponents such as Rose Namajunas, Joanna Jędrzejczyk, Carla Esparza, Marina Rodriguez, Amanda Lemos, and Luana Pinheiro, Waterson competed in her final bout against Gillian Robertson at UFC 303 on June 29, 2024, subsequently announcing her retirement from mixed martial arts.

Outside the octagon, Waterson appeared in a 2008 calendar for Knockouts, performed stunt work for Natalie Portman in the Marvel movie Thor, and was featured in the music video for Megadeth's song Head Crusher. She competed on American Ninja Warrior and The Challenge: Champs vs. Stars, was featured in ESPN's The Body Issue, and was the subject of the 2016 documentary Fight Mom. She is married to former U.S. Armed Forces amateur boxing champion Joshua Gomez, with whom she has a daughter born in 2011.