"School of Michelle Waterson" - Fans make fun of Ricky Turcios "punching air" at UFC Vegas 58
Ricky Turcios recently lost a lopsided decision against Aiemann Zahabi at UFC Vegas 58. The TUF alum went into the history books for his poor striking numbers, landing only 27 of 235 attempted significant strikes. Turcios landed 11.5 percent of his significant strike attempts, the fourth-lowest single-fight rate in UFC history among bouts with at least 150 strike attempts.
Ricky Turcios whiffed on 208 significant strike attempts, which is the second most missed in a three-round fight this year, behind only Roxanne Modafferi vs. Casey O'Neil (120 of 358) #UFCVegas58 https://t.co/FZ3geEp2ZH
Turcios' poor performance incited hilarious reactions from fans on social media. Fans couldn't stop comparing him to UFC strawweight Michelle Waterson, who is notorious for her elaborate feints. A user named @MMAWretch wrote:
"Ricky Turcios firing off devastating elbow feints developed by the school of Michelle Waterson"
Ricky Turcios firing off devastating elbow feints developed by the school of Michelle Waterson https://t.co/L9eXbafabW
Michelle Waterson watching Ricky Turcios land 30/205 of his strikes last night https://t.co/nEpDZtXiHG
@CubSwanson His hero is Michelle waterson
Ricky “Michelle Waterson” Turcios tbh
@HDoumergumedov Is this not Michelle Waterson fighting ? https://t.co/M0N2Vu2gex
He kinda just Michelle Waterson’d in that last minute or so, kicking from out of range doing kiya’s 😭😭
Turcios channeling his inner Michelle Waterson #UFCVegas58
#UFCVegas58
Turcios range fighting reminds me of Michelle Waterson fight style
Michelle Waterson hails from a karate background which gives her a rangy kickboxing style. 'The Karate Hottie' has, however, faced immense criticism for 'punching air' more often than not.
Turcios came out with a frantic pace against Zahabi, who appeared to be the more composed fighter. The Canadian managed to land 54 out of his 105 attempted strikes to earn his second consecutive win.
Turcios dropped his first shot at a UFC contract back in 2017, losing to Boston Salmon at DWCS. He defeated Brady Hiestand to become the TUF 29 winner at bantamweight last year, finally earning his UFC contract.
Georges St-Pierre's advice to Aiemann Zahabi ahead of the Ricky Turcios fight
Aiemann Zahabi is the brother of Firas Zahabi, long-time coach to the legendary Georges St-Pierre at the Tristar Gym in Canada. 'GSP' had a piece of advice for Zahabi ahead of the latter's UFC Vegas 58 clash against Ricky Turcios.
According to Zahabi, the former welterweight king asked him to be his own self instead of trying to do anything 'extra'. The Canadian bantamweight explained during the post-fight presser:
"You know what’s funny? It was something that Deion Sanders said in an interview recently, and Georges told me basically the exact same thing. Deion Sanders says if you’re out there trying to prove you’re the man, you’re not the man. The man who is the man is just the man being himself. Today, when I saw Georges, he told me, ‘Don’t try to do anything extra today. You are who you are. You’re going to win being who you are. Just go out there and be you.'”
Watch Zahabi's appearance at the post-fight scrum below: