This Saturday’s UFC Fight Night card from the organization’s Apex facility in Las Vegas was to be headlined by a light heavyweight bout between the division’s second-ranked Thiago Santos and No. 4 Glover Teixeira, but Teixeira tested positive for COVID-19 so that has been shifted to October 3.
The new main event and now a five-round fight is the former co-main event featuring American female strawweights Michelle Waterson and Angela Hill. The strawweight champion is Weili Zhang with Waterson ranked No. 8 in the division and Hill No. 13.
The 35-year-old Hill (12-8) is a former World Kickboxing Association champion as well as Invicta FC strawweight champion. “Overkill” had a three-fight winning streak snapped in May via split decision to Claudia Gadelha. Most of Hill’s fights do go to the judges: She has seven wins that way and six losses; her other two defeats were by submission but Hill has never won via that route. She is a -130 favorite for Saturday.
Waterson (17-8), 34, is a black belt in American freestyle karate and a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and a former Invicta FC Atomweight champion. “The Karate Hottie” has lost back-to-back fights in the Octagon to Carla Esparza and Joanna Jedrzejczyk. The defeat to Esparza was a controversial split decision. Waterson wins the majority of the time by submission (53 percent) and half of her eight losses are via decision. She’s even money against Hill.