Ashlee Evans-Smith Is Happy Moving Down to Flyweight For UFC 223

Ashlee Evans-Smith spoke with MMAjunkie ahead of her fight with Bec Rawlings at UFC 223. Highlights are below:

On her submission loss to Sara Moras at UFC 215: “I’m like, ‘Nope, I’m strong.’ Then I got caught.”

On dropping weight classes: “I was really excellent on my diet, like better than I ever have been, even in fight camp. Everybody simultaneously was like, ‘Dude, are you dropping down to 125?’ Then the idea got put in my head.”

On the training making her a faster and better fighter: “The mixture of (a lighter) weight class and working with (my former strength and conditioning coach), I feel super fast. Yeah, the weight drop does play a part, but I think it’s the kind of training you’re doing. You can see these big guys, and you’re like, whoa, how did he move like that? It’s not because he’s light. It’s because he’s doing the right training.”

On studying Rawlings: “I don’t do a lot of tape study. But all my coaches and all my friends, even teammates, they watch her, and they’re pretty unimpressed with her performance. She doesn’t change much from fight to fight. It’s just kind of the same person. Maybe she has a little more oomph in her punches, but she’s not growing as a fighter, I don’t think. And that’s definitely not good with how fast our sport is growing and how quickly women and men are being cut. She’s definitely not a fighter that’s ever evolving, and it definitely makes our game planning easier.”