Did Michelle Waterson work as a waitress at Hooters?

Michelle Waterson will be competing in her fifteenth fight in the UFC this Saturday, June 29, against Gillian Robertson. While Waterson has been a mainstay of women's divisions in the UFC for a few years, she worked hard to reach the level.

Before becoming a professional fighter, Michelle Waterson worked as a waitress at the American restaurant chain, Hooters. This is where she met her husband, Joshua Gomez, and also received her nickname, 'The Karate Hottie'.

On Renee Paquette's Oral Sessions podcast, Michelle Waterson explained how she got her nickname while shooting for the Hooters calendar and how it stuck with her throughout her fighting career:

"I tried out for the Hooters calendar, I went on location to shoot for the calendar Virgin Islands, it was the coolest thing. We were in the Virgin Islands, I met a guy named Howie and he owned a company called Bikini.com. He got talking to me and found out that I did Karate and he was like ‘I would love to feature you on my website’ and on his website he featured different girls each month."

She added:

"He was like ‘We can theme you the Karate Hottie and we can do bikini shots and karate shots and it will be awesome’ and it stuck. My first promoter asked me my fight name and I said no. He then Googled me and that’s what popped up."

Waterson may no longer be the person who necessarily relates to either the nickname or her past, however, she has embraced the moniker as part of her brand now and is okay to see past the name and prove her mettle through fighting.

In a 2019 interview with ESPN, Michelle Waterson said she was confident about changing people's minds about her, inside the octagon:

"If people are going to tune in because my fight name is the 'Karate Hottie' or because I used to work at Hooters, then so be it. I just need your eyes to watch, and once you see that I am a true martial artist, then I'll change your mind about how you view me."

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Michelle Waterson's recent career trajectory

Over the years, Michelle Waterson has become one of the most recognizable female fighters on the UFC roster. The 38-year-old started her career with back-to-back submission wins over Angela Magana and highly touted prospect Paige VanZant.

In the following years, Waterson amassed a few good wins and was campaigning for a title shot. However, she has struggled to enjoy consistent success inside the UFC octagon. After defeating Angela Hill via split decision in September 2020, Waterson has suffered a four-fight losing skid, which has severely impacted her chances of competing for the UFC title.

At UFC 303, Waterson will attempt to get back in the win column by defeating fellow veteran fighter Gillian Robertson, who is coming off a second-round TKO win over Polyana Viana in her UFC 297 outing.