UFC Denver’s Ashley Yoder Talks Amanda Cooper Matchup, TUF 23 Experience & Dayjob in Sales

Ashley Yoder is looking to pick up her first UFC win at UFC Fight Night Denver, as she battles Amanda Cooper in a women’s straweight division bout.

While some fighters have had negative experiences on the UFC Ultimate Fighter, quite the opposite happened to Yoder.

“The Ultimate Fighter was something I wish that every fighter could experience, I know of course…its now over. It was a lifetime changing experience as a fighter for me, it kind of builds you to be independent on yourself because you don’t have your coaching…you don’t have the support team that you would normally have in a fight camp. You don’t know who you’re fight, you could be sleeping next to the person you might be competing against. So, how do you train? Do you put everything out there? It just one of those things that were very, very tough on the soul, but it builds a better fighter. Honestly, we all got along very well. I’ve done another interview before and I think its easy to say that I’ve gotten along with Amanda before we even got on the show, she’s a cool girl. She’s definitely got a really good stand up, so I’m excited about being able to strike with her. I come from no background, so I kind of just like to fight. I don’t mind being on my feet, I don’t mind being on my back. I really don’t mind anywhere in the cage personally, but I definitely excited about this fight and I think its gonna be a really good fight,” says Yoder in an exclusive interview with Fightful’s James Lynch.

Yoder was a participant on the UFC Ultimate Fighter 23, which would eventually be won by Tatiana Suarez.

Some fighters may rely on a game plan when they enter the Octagon, but that’s not the case for Yoder.

“You know, I don’t really…I can never predict fights. I go in just being open to anything, you have to. You can’t have a game plan because what happens if that game plan doesn’t work out? I mean you can have A, B, and C, but I feel that’s too much time to think. We just train to be the best Ashley I can be and I’m gonna go spider monkey, so hopefully you guys get and catch a very exciting fight. I have a feeling its gonna be amazing,” says Yoder.

UFC Fight Night Denver takes place on Saturday, November 10 from the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado with Frankie Edgar and Chan Sung Jung headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which airs live on Fox Sports 1.