https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0P6me3mmPs
Ashlee Evans-Smith is gearing up to get back inside the octagon.
The #11 ranked UFC women’s flyweight returns to the Pull No Punches podcast on Thursday, August 23 with UFC lightweight Kajan Johnson and MMASucka‘s Shakiel Mahjouri.
The following quotes have been condensed for clarity and concision.
A Big Fight In The Works
Evans-Smith, 31, warns fans they should be on the lookout for a big fight announcement. “I do have news brewing,” she tells the hosts. “I do know who I’m going to fight and when I am going to fight, but I can’t quite tell you yet.”
The fighter, who promises to share the news on social media “in the near future”, did give some hints. “It’s a very, very interesting and exciting matchup,” she says. “It has a lot of potential to be a great fight, to get good publicity and help move me on up.”
Bad Reffing?
Evans-Smith has had no shortage of tough breaks in the octagon, from being choked unconscious by Raquel Pennington to having her arm snapped by Sarah Moras. Interviews published by MMA Fighting detail a scary outcome at Demolidor Fight on Saturday, August 18. Fighter Melquizael Costa was out cold in an anaconda choke for 90 seconds before referee Emerson Pereira Saez intervened. Following severe backlash and scrutiny, the referee retired.
Sharing her thoughts on the incident, Evan-Smith says, “That’s really unfortunate.” Adding, “I was in a similar situation my first UFC fight. Even the ref came up to me and said, ‘Hey Ash, I hope you’re not mad at me. I let it go on maybe a little longer than I should have.’ It wasn’t 90 seconds, it might have been one second or two seconds, but 90 freakin’ seconds… Someone should put [the referee] in an anaconda choke for 90 seconds.”
Tattoos Galore
Evans-Smith also opens up about her killer body ink and what inspired her many tattoos. Speaking on her childhood, the fighter says her idols were “crazy punk rock chicks” that could “fight and mosh and sing crazy and had tattoos and crazy hair.”
Her grandfather assumed it would be a phase, but here stands Evans-Smith in all her glory. “It was something I fell in love with early and now that I have my own tattoos as an adult, most of them have meaning but some of them just look great,” she explains. “My favourite quote about tattoos is ‘you came into this world as a blank canvas, do you really want to leave that way?’ And I do not.”
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The Pull No Punches podcast publishes every Thursday on iTunes, Stitcher, YouTube, Facebook Video and most major podcasting networks.
