Ashley Yoder got her first Ultimate Fighting Championship win last time out. The 31-year-old lost to Justin Kish, Angela Hill and Mackenzie Dern, but beat Amanda Cooper back in November. To finally get her first win in the Las Vegas-based promotion was surreal.
“It felt good. It was a rough fight going into it, and a lot of personal stuff going on,” Yoder said to Sherdog.com. “My number one coach wasn’t there. Just a bunch of chaos, but we overcame it. It may not have been my best performance. At the end of the day, you just have to go in there and do your best.”
Now, she is set to take on Syuri Kondo at UFC Greenville. Although Yoder wanted to return much sooner than this, she is just glad to be fighting. Ultimately, the American is excited to take on Kondo and showcase all her skills once more.
“For any fighter I go against, I just come out and bring the best Ashley Yoder. Just learning new things and getting more comfortable under the bright lights,” she explained. “It isn’t just focusing on my opponent, as things can change. So, it is just making me a better fighter. I think she is a great striker so it will be a fun matchup. At the end of the day, just showcasing all my skills and be myself will be enough. Overall though, I hope she performs her best because that is when I have fight the best.”
In the end, “The Spider Monkey” is confident she extends her winning streak to two. But, the 31-year-old doesn’t have her eyes on the rankings quite yet. Rather, she just wants to fight more often. “Hopefully it just gets me another fight sooner,” said Yoder. “I just want to be active, wherever they put me. That is what I excited about.