By Alex Dillon @ADillon_
Out of the many fighters featuring on Full Contact Contender 11 this Saturday, Ashley Reece is one that you could ‘put your house on’ to be in an exciting fight.
The current FCC amateur lightweight champion won the belt when he took part in ‘the best amateur fight of all time’ back at FCC 8 coming from behind to finish Martin Chester in sensational style.
Since then, the 6-0 prospect fighting out of Team Monkey MMA Academy has dominated every opponent and he will be looking to continue this streak when he faces off against Team Kaobon’s Anthony O’Connor.
We sat down with Reece to get his thoughts ahead of the fight this Saturday.
Hi Ashley, thanks for taking the time out to talk to us during fight week, how is the weight cut going?
“It’s my pleasure mate; this is the easiest weight cut I've had so far. Things are looking good for Saturday!”
How does it feel to be defending your title at FCC again?
“It’s an honour to fight on a show like FCC and they make me feel right at home being there champion, I believe that FCC has the best amateur fighters in the country”
You’re coming off a dominant title defence against a tough Daryl Golding, was that your best performance to date?
“Thanks, I made a lot of errors in the Daryl Golding fight and I have worked obsessively hard to correct them, I'm hoping that my best performance to date will be my fight on Saturday night!”
You train at Team Monkey MMA Academy with fighters such as Conor Riordan and Junior Morgan (who are also on this card) as well as Javonne Morrison another FCC regular, how good is it for your development that your team mates often fight on the same cards as you and that you’re a close knit team in similar size to each other?
“It's awesome training at Team Monkey MMA Academy. Our coach Ozzy had a very precise way of training each and every one of us and like it or not, it works. The atmosphere in the gym is ultra competitive and by the time most of us get to fight night we are looking forward to fighting”
Onto your opponent, Anthony O'Connor what do you know about him?
“Anthony o Connor is a top level fighter from a highly respected gym, I have trained very hard and taken Anthony very seriously, I look forward fighting him on Saturday”
Given that he lost for the time at Shinobi last month, do you believe this affects Saturday's fight at all?
“I think Anthony will come back even better and he will have made the necessary adjustments with his team however I don't think he has fought anybody like me though so we will see on Saturday”
In amateur or pro MMA, fighters often refer to their superior grappling or striking as to why they have the edge in fights, do you believe that your cardio is a superior skill which gives you the edge in fights as it seems the longer the fight goes on, the better you get?
“I am trained and coached to be as well rounded as possible, I use my cardio as a sort of identity, some fighters have heavy hands, I like to think I have decent cardio and have improved that even more for this fight!”
What can we expect from you come fight night?
“On fight night you can expect for me to come out and keep pushing the pace , every second of that fight bar the breaks in between the rounds I will be looking to finish the fight as quickly as possible”
Finally, who would you like to thank in the lead up to the fight?
I would like to thank my coach for all the effort he has put into me over the years, I would like to thank my girlfriend for being as supportive as she is . She makes it very easy for me to focus on what I need to get done and I love her for that. I would like to thank my training partners at team monkey; Javonne Morrison, Connor Riordan, junior Morgan, Wesley Smith, Pav, Liam Gray. My brother for helping me with my strength and conditioning and my family for their constant support, if I have forgot anyone then sorry but thank you
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