Ashlee Evans-Smith didn’t hold back when speaking about her UFC 223 opponent Bec Rawlings in a recent interview with Fightful. Despite coming off back-to-back losses heading into the matchup, “Rebel Girl” feels that her size will play a factor in the fight as she’s dropping down to flyweight.
“I’m Shocked She Took The Fight Against Me”
“Without sounding cocky, I’m shocked that she took the fight against me.” Evans-Smith explained. “She’s coming off of three losses, I’m the bigger, stronger girl”
On a personal level, the 30-year-old was brutally honest about the TUF 20 competitor saying Rawlings is a bad representation for the sport.
“I just don’t like the girl that much at all. She’s a really bad depiction and role model for women’s MMA. She’s raunchy to put it lightly. She uses sexuality way too much. I’ve posted a few risque pictures, but she overdoes it. It’s shocking to me, she has children, too. My nickname is ‘rebel girl,’ and I’d love to cuss all the time and post pictures that are a bit risque, but I don’t because there are boys and girls that look up to us. I take that into consideration and I don’t think so at all. I think she’s given MMA a bad name in general,” said Evans-Smith.”She’s kind of a shit talker, and a lot of the time she can’t back it up, which is embarrassing to me. Sometimes I wanna talk trash, but then I’m like ‘ooh, it’s MMA, anything can happen.’ I’m not gonna talk trash in this fight and get spinning heel kicked and look like an [idiot]”
Evans-Smith (5-3) last competed in September where she suffered a career high second-straight loss when Sarah Moras submitted her in the first-round at UFC 215. The California native will be looking for her first win since Sept. 2016 when she defeated Veronica Macedo via TKO at UFC Fight Night 93. Evans-Smith also mentions in the interview she’s training with former UFC strawweight champion Carla Esparza.
Rawlings (7-7) hasn’t won a fight since Mar. 2016 and is coming off three-straight losses against Paige VanZant, Tecia Torres and Jessica-Rose Clark. The 29-year-old Alliance MMA product has gone the distance in three of her last four fights. This will be Rawlings second straight fight at 125-pounds.
Do you agree with Ashlee Evans-Smith that Bec Rawlings is a bad representation of MMA? Comment below and tell us what you think!
Watch the full interview below
