EXCLUSIVE | Amanda Cooper is ‘very confident’ she will beat Ashley Yoder at UFC Denver

Amanda ‘ABC’ Cooper is ready to get back to her winning ways.

Cooper got her start in the UFC by competing on season 23 of The Ultimate Fighter. She would win her way to the finals before losing to Tatiana Suarez. Also on that season was Cooper’s next opponent, Ashley Yoder. The fight will take place at UFC Denver on November 10.

“Ashley Yoder was in the TUF house with me so I feel very confident in defeating her. [As I] know her strengths and weaknesses better than a normal opponent,” Cooper told BJPenn.com, “I think it’s a great matchup for me. Ashley is a southpaw which I love, she’s not very dangerous anywhere. She is coming off three losses in a row. I think I can beat her anywhere.”

The fight between Cooper and Yoder is a rather interesting one. Both fighters are coming off of losses to Mackenzie Dern in 2018. However, even with ABC coming off of a loss, she is confident ahead of her fight against Yoder. While confidence is high, Cooper believes she knows how the fight will unfold.

“I think Ashley is going to try to strike in the first round and then when it’s not going her way she’s going to dive for takedowns. That will give me confidence knowing she doesn’t want to stand with me,” added Cooper. “I’m going to defend her takedowns and she’s going to lose all her confidence and she’s going to gas out in the second and that’s when I will beat her.”

The fight is not until November 10, but Cooper is more than ready to fight Yoder now. The hope is she can get back on the winning track and start her march up the strawweight division after taking a tough loss to Dern who missed weight badly for their fight in May.

“When Dern missed weight I wasn’t even close to not taking the fight, the thought didn’t cross my mind. I wanted the fight.”

The fight should be a good one between Yoder and Cooper, a fight that probably should have happened in the TUF house as well. Now that it is finally happening, Cooper wants to prove she is the better fighter and then enjoy the rest of 2018.

“After I beat Ashley, I want to relax, enjoy the holidays with my family and then get a fight early 2019,” she said.

The goal is clear, it just all needs to happen in Colorado for the UFC’s 25th-anniversary show.

Do you agree with Cooper that she can defeat Yoder at UFC Denver?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 10/23/2018