After over a year on the sidelines, Michelle Waterson will make her long-awaited return to the UFC Octagon when she faces Paige VanZant in the main event of UFC on Fox 22 on December 17.

The road back from injury has been a long one for the Jackson-Winkeljohn team member. Having first injured suffered a hand injury in her UFC debut at The Ultimate Fighter 21 Finale, Waterson then went on to have several returns scheduled and then fall through.

Waterson understandably recalls the past 15 months as one of the toughest periods of her career.

"I just had the worst string of luck I've ever had," Waterson said. "I injured my hand in the fight with [Angela] Magana, and we opted to let it heal naturally. It healed and I got better and I took the fight against Tecia Torres and I then my knee got hurt. When that healed up, my hand got hurt again. When I had to pull out of the Germany, we then just decided to go ahead and do the surgery. I got a plate put in and six screws. That's going to stay inside my hand now.

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"Today I went to the doctor and we are now good to go. He cleared me to do anything I need to do as far as training goes with my hand. It's been a really tough period, but now everything is all good and I'm really excited to be able to say I'm back."

Having been cleared by her doctor to return to full training, Waterson is now able to do everything she needs to do to prepare for the fight with VanZant in December. However, she won't be going full blast from the outset and instead is taking a cautious approach to this camp.

"There's no reason for me to go 100 percent right away," Waterson said. "I'm still training really hard, but I'm training really smart you know. I'm making sure I'm keeping my fitness really good and keeping busy while I ease myself back into everything."
 

A premature Dana White announcement

 
Waterson will main event a UFC show for the first time in her career at UFC on Fox 22. She recalled how the fight came together and her delight at hearing the news she would be top of the bill on the December card.

"We've been back and forth [with the UFC] and had a couple of other options, but this one just seemed to fall into place," Waterson said. "I didn't know they were going to announce it so soon. Dana White announced it before I'd got the all-clear from the doctor, but hey, I talked to him today and everything is good to go so it doesn't matter.

"Now we are just getting ready to fight and I can't wait to get back in there and back to fighting."

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The last fight Waterson had to pull out of was a fight with Aisling Daly scheduled for UFC Fight Night Hamburg back in September. While Waterson admits she was upset about having to pull out of that fight, she believes her current fight is much more illustrious.

"I'll be honest and say I prefer it because it's here in the States," Waterson said. "I was really excited to go out to Hamburg, but this is a main event in the U.S. Paige has built up some momentum and certainly has built up some stardom with everything she's been doing in the mainstream.

"I think just as far as getting more mainstream audience to get to know who I am, and to get them excited (for) a female MMA fight, I think this will be the best ticket to do so."

A martial artist for over 20 years

VanZant will be headlining her second UFC fight card after headlining a show on December 10 last year opposite Rose Namajunas in Las Vegas. Waterson believes VanZant will be a good opponent but that she holds many key advantages over her.

"I think that she has a lot of experience fighting in the UFC, and she was able to go all five rounds with Rose, which was a really brave performance," Waterson said. "I think she came back from that loss and learned a lot. She showed against Bec [Rawlings] that she can collect herself and come back from adversity, which is a really great thing to be able to do.

"I think it will be a great fight, but I have more fights under my belt than she does and I'm looking to use my experience in my martial arts and my fighting career to capitalize in the right way.

"I know that Paige is athletic, but she comes from a dance background and I've been doing martial arts as long as she's probably been alive--I've no idea how old she is. I've been doing this a long time and I believe I'll be able to use all of the skills I have learned in the last 20 years. I've been a martial artist for over 20 years and I think that will be the difference in this fight."

Getting her share of the spotlight

With VanZant known for being someone the UFC likes to push in its marketing and promotion, Waterson is hoping that she can be taken along for the ride and be featured just as much in the pre-fight buildup.

"I think I'm just as marketable as Paige," Waterson said. "The cool thing about it is we both have very different stories. It's not like there are two of the same stories going up against each other. Paige is young in herself and in the sport and she's had all this stardom.

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"I've been in this sport for almost 10 years now, I have a family and I have a daughter, and I think our stories are uniquely different. I think it's going to make for a very cool buildup.

My time

Anyone thinking that Waterson might be anxious appearing in her first main event needn't have worried. Waterson said she's ready for anything, anytime, and anyplace.

"It's not extra pressure for me now that it's a main event," Waterson said. "I've been in them before in Invicta, and I've trained for five rounds before. A fight is a fight. It doesn't matter if it's a back alley, in the gym, or under the UFC banner in front of millions of people. I've had my bad luck, but that's all now behind me. Now, it's my time to shine."

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