Ashley Ikner loving the MMA lifestyle, continues to improve
Video interview with Ashley Ikner above
While Art of War Cage Fighting matchmaker Jillian Peterson was putting together the fight card for AOW 30, my radar went off. I noticed that she signed three fighters from Scorpion Fighting Systems (SFS) to bouts on the card. It seemed unusual to me as they are based in Brighton, Michigan and the AOW event was in Philadelphia. Speaking with head coach James Gray at the official weigh-ins, I asked him his reasoning for making the nine-hour drive for his three fighters. He told me that he wanted his fighters to taste what it was like to be in a situation comparable to the next level, where they didn’t have the pressure to sell tickets and had to get used to a place very quickly to perform at their best. SFS surely did that and were very impressive.
Spencer Rivas secured the first buggy choke submission I can ever recall in Philadelphia MMA in the third-round of an epic battle of unbeatens. This was a crazy back and forth contest with both fighters having great moments. Spencer’s opponent, Anis Abdulloev broke his arm in the second round and came out to fight in the third and that’s when he was caught. We should see both of these talented young men on the pro scene very soon.
Fallon Johnson moved to 3-0 in her amateur career with a second-round rear-naked choke finish. Johnson is a well-rounded mixed martial artist who danced for most of her life including at college. The now 26-year-old found Renzo Gracie jiu-jitsu and has worked her way to the rank of purple belt. Fallon then moved to Michigan and found SFS and is now on her way to a very promising career in the cage.
Ashley “the Attitude” Ikner got the night off to a great start setting the tone as she made her walkout wearing a ski-mask to face Fabiana Josa. Ikner is a 24-year-old who wrestled in high school and college. Ikner likes to put on a show and she did not disappoint. The Attitude went the distance to take down the unanimous decision and her and Josa shared the Antrim Electric fight of the night honors.
MyMMANews spoke with Ikner to get to know a little bit about her and talk about moving to 2-0. Talking about how she got her start in MMA, she tells us…
“After Covid, I had another year of eligibility, and I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. Should I go back and wrestle one more year. I was talking to some of my friends about this asking them that I should do. A couple of them were like, you should try MMA. I was like…. I don’t know, but I’m the type of person who has to always try something once. After I moved back to Michigan, I already knew about Scorpion Fighting Systems. I had done a couple of wrestling camps there when I was in high school. I knew the quality there. After practicing for a couple of days, I was like, OK James (head coach James Gray) I’m going to fight for you for sure. I fell in love with it super-fast.”
Please check out our interview on the link above.
Inkner is full steam ahead and wants to make a name for herself. You can follow her on her IG page at ashleyikner
