About a month away from her Octagon return, Ashley Yoder checks in with MyMMANews.com to discuss her upcoming fight against Syuri Kondo UFC on ESPN+ 12. The event takes place June 22 at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina. The women’s strawweight bout is slated to kickoff the ESPN+ main card at 7 p.m. EST.

“The Spider Monkey” discusses her past weekend at the Lululemon retreat — which included completing an astounding 16 minute plank, what she learned being a part of that exclusive invite, picking up her first UFC win against Amanda Cooper at UFC Denver and the adversity she had to overcome heading into that fight, finding positive momentum after losing three straight fights in close decisions, her reaction to Kondo being her next opponent, why she thinks fans will enjoy the matchup, what a win on June 22 will do for her placement in one of the UFC’s most exciting and consistent divisions, what she has learned about herself as a fighter and a person since signing with the UFC, and much more.

Yoder is also hoping to accomplish another first in her UFC career when she steps in the Octagon in Greenville next month.

“I’m ready to, hopefully, get my first submission in the UFC, or finish of some sort, and I’m excited about that,” Yoder told MyMMANews.com. “I always visualize my hand being raised. That’s one thing I’ve gotten better at with my coaches. My strength and conditioning coach has helped me a lot with visualization. I don’t like (to make official predictions), it’s the same as — you won’t ever see me call someone out. I don’t like to pick my poison. That’s karma. I don’t go in with a game plan just because I don’t want that game plan to fail. I just want to go in there and have fun. I know I have all the tools to do what I’m going to do, I’m aware of what she’s capable of, but it’s like a blank slate. It’s like I’m about the paint the canvas with blood. That’s my style, I like bloody fights. I think that’s why a lot of fans love me. It’s just a performance thing for me.

Watch the full interview with Ashley Yoder in the video above.

Mike Heck https://youtube.com/mikeheckmma Mike Heck is the a freelance MMA journalist covering the sport for a number of websites. Specializing in video interviews, Mike interviews everybody from prospects, to title contenders, to world champions, along with other influential personalities in the sport of MMA. Subscribe to his channel at https://youtube.com/mikeheckmma. See author's posts