Michelle Waterson vs. Felice Herrig: Who wins the grappling game?

[SeverianB]

Both of these veteran fighters have traditionally been known for their striking.

However, recently they have both massively improved their grappling.

Felice, after getting embarrassed by Paige VanZant on the ground, took a year off and came back with a bang, submitting Kailin Curran with a RNC.

Michelle, after tough losses to Rose Namajunas and Tecia Torres, took down the bigger Cortney Casey at will and landed GnP, which won her the fight.

Surprisingly to most, Michelle Waterson has the #1 takedown accuracy in her division (link) at 83% !!!
Felice Herrig is way down the list at #14, with only 32%.

Michelle has 9 submissions (60% of her victorys) in her career.
Felice has 4 submissions (29% of her victorys) in her career.

The only recent common opponent they have is Casey. Michelle looked much better grappling there, taking Casey down at will and remaining on top for 7 minutes of the fight. Herrig on the other hand only got one takedown and Casey reversed it. That said, both had completely different strategies against Casey.

Both of them have fought Paige Vanzant as well, with Waterson dominating Vanzant:

... and Herrig doing poorly. But Herrig was obviously in a bad place for that fight and it probably is a worthless comparison.

As far as other recent fights, Michelle was also able to take down both Rose (who reversed the takedown) and Tecia. Felice on the other hand, looked worse on the ground against Karolina.

My (admittedly biased) opinion is Michelle has a big advantage here.

In any case, both have really been keeping in shape as usual, so physical fitness shouldn't be an issue:

 

[DC23]

Not sure, but I do know that I'd love a good grapple with Michelle.

 

[Kenny Powerth]

Michelle and I in a north to south position

(Good practice for her)

 

[flowoftruth]

LOL!

 

[Frankie Baby!]

Felice is more of a dominate grappler, Michelle always gets dominated by strong grapplers.

 

[blurple]

Watching these two grapple makes my penis the true winner.

 

[DetachedOrchid]

Herrig will win. She's too strong for michelle and will have a small size advantage. Her fight IQ is slightly better too but it will be a sexy fight.

 

[jeskola]

Michelle and I in a north to south position

(Good practice for her)

That's a pretty original joke regarding attractive female mixed martial arts fighters. I haven't read that ten thousand times already. Really!

 

[jeskola]

Watching these two grapple makes my penis the true winner.

I think it makes your hand the true winner, your penis is chaffed.

 

[Post 2 Decision]

Came for pics

TS delivered

 

[ybot337]

yawn

 

[SeverianB]

Came for pics

TS delivered

Always.

 

[Aerose91]

Herrig will win. She's too strong for michelle and will have a small size advantage. Her fight IQ is slightly better too but it will be a sexy fight.

You really think so? I feel like Herrig is really overrated. Even though she has a little size on Waterson I still see the karate hottie having every advantage in this fight

 

[Kenny Powerth]

That's a pretty original joke regarding attractive female mixed martial arts fighters. I haven't read that ten thousand times already. Really!

I think it makes your hand the true winner, your penis is chaffed.

You have a little comment on everything don’t ya Mr. Perfect.

Just boys being boys.

 

[Aerose91]

Always.

Based on the sliver of her I'm wondering who the girl is to Waterson's left. C'mon, internet

 

[WeedLordBonerHitler]

Both of these veteran fighters have traditionally been known for their striking.

However, recently they have both massively improved their grappling.

Felice, after getting embarrassed by Paige VanZant on the ground, took a year off and came back with a bang, submitting Kailin Curran with a RNC.

Michelle, after tough losses to Rose Namajunas and Tecia Torres, took down the bigger Cortney Casey at will and landed GnP, which won her the fight.

Surprisingly to most, Michelle Waterson has the #1 takedown accuracy in her division (link) at 83% !!!
Felice Herrig is way down the list at #14, with only 32%.

Michelle has 9 submissions (60% of her victorys) in her career.
Felice has 4 submissions (29% of her victorys) in her career.

The only recent common opponent they have is Casey. Michelle looked much better grappling there, taking Casey down at will and remaining on top for 7 minutes of the fight. Herrig on the other hand only got one takedown and Casey reversed it. That said, both had completely different strategies against Casey.

Both of them have fought Paige Vanzant as well, with Waterson dominating Vanzant:

... and Herrig doing poorly. But Herrig was obviously in a bad place for that fight and it probably is a worthless comparison.

As far as other recent fights, Michelle was also able to take down both Rose (who reversed the takedown) and Tecia. Felice on the other hand, looked worse on the ground against Karolina.

My (admittedly biased) opinion is Michelle has a big advantage here.

In any case, both have really been keeping in shape as usual, so physical fitness shouldn't be an issue:

Lmao who cares if they can grapple or play fight. I watch the match just for my dick.

 

[Staph infection]

The fans win on this one. Two cute little hiney’s bouncing around the cage.

 

[West Linn]

I'm going with Herrig here just because Michelles been uncharacteristically hoe-ey in the last few weeks.

 

[West Linn]

A nose job would do wonders for Felice. I look forward to the day she retires and fixes up that nose.

 

[SeverianB]

You really think so? I feel like Herrig is really overrated. Even though she has a little size on Waterson I still see the karate hottie having every advantage in this fight

I think Michelle has every advantage in wrestling, BJJ and grappling in general.
However, Felice is better in the stand-up striking. She stood toe-to-toe with all her recent oppoents (Casey, Karolina) and in my opinion, outstruck all of them. Michelle on the other hand was outstruck by Tecia and knocked down by Casey, although it was also very close.
I think Michelle, if she is *on* has superior speed, movement and diversity in her striking and can win as stand up fight with Felice. BUT, as seen in the Casey fight, she stopped moving and started getting tagged. Casey literally only landed 5 punches in the first round compared to dozens from Michelle and got taken down and Ground and Pounded by Michelle, yet people still had her winning that round. Because the few punches she landed visibly wobbled or knocked down Michelle.