After a very successful amateur career, Ash “Smash” Mashreghi decided to turn pro. Like many amateurs that turn pro, they hit some speed bumps, however “Smash” hit three. He fought his first three professional bouts for Aggression Fighting Championship and was unable to notch a victory.
At 0-3 many would call it a career, but Mashreghi decided to change up his fight camp and that helped him find his way inside the cage.
“It definitely put me in a dark place for awhile, after my first loss I really started coming down hard on myself and I didn’t believe in myself anymore,” said Mashreghi. “After finding myself 0- 3, I knew I had to change it up. I moved my camp to Vancouverand found a good group of guys where I just fit in perfectly. I told myself that I was better than all these guys and started pushing myself harder than before. I started to have fun and believe.”
That new gym was Iron City in Vancouver. The gym is under the tutelage of Kru Jason Fenton who comes from a Muay Thai background, but the gym itself has become a full fledge MMA facility.
“The biggest growth Ash has gone through since being a part of Iron City is he is just starting to have fun,” Fenton explained to MMASucka.com. “You can see it in his face when he enters the cage, he is always smiling and enjoying himself.”
Mashreghi fought most of his amateur bouts with Vancouver, B.C.’s Battlefield Fight League and returned to the organization for his fourth pro bout. In his first fight back with BFL, the welterweight finished B.C.’s stand-out talent Stuart Deleurme via first round TKO. He followed that win up with another first round TKO against Mark Dobie at BFL 27 in January.
“It all started with BFL and they have been treating me like gold since day one, so I was happy to go back.”
After two wins in a row with BFL, the organization gave him a main event battle against a veteran in the game, Marcus Vinicios. In the first round of that fight, Mashreghi was able to utilize his takedowns and dominate the Brazilian with some ground and pound. Midway through the second frame, the Iron City Muay Thai product was able to take the back of Vinicios and snatch up a very tight rear-naked choke.
“I hope to keep fighting non-stop every month. I love being in the cage and it doesn’t matter where, with who or anything — I believe in myself and everyone at 170-pounds is in trouble.”
Mashreghi has found a groove of sorts in the BFL cage and will definitely look to continue it rolling later in the year.
Keep it locked to more on Mashreghi and BFL HERE.
