Fresh off of The Ultimate Fighter: Season 23 Finale, UFC strawweight Amanda Bobby Cooper is headed to Belfast, Northern Ireland to take on Anna Elmose at UFC Fight Night 99 on November 19, 2016. Before her trip across the Atlantic, Amanda Cooper spoke with Bloody Elbow's Eddie Mercado about life after TUF, personal development, and her honest assessment of her opposition.
Interview: UFC Strawweight Amanda Bobby Cooper UFC Fight Night: Belfast **AUDIO ONLY**
A fire inside:
"I really don't know because I don't like conflict. I really don't like the idea of fighting. It's always weird. I always tell people I don't like fighting but I like to win and I don't like competition. I don't know. It's a weird thing in my mind. For some reason, when I feel like I see them hurt, or I see blood, I just like go for it. I love fighting really. It's a weird thing. I've been doing it my whole life."
TUF 23:
"It was wonderful. You find out a lot about yourself and who you are as a person and who you are as a professional athlete, you know. I'm very reliant on my coaches and my team and very close to them, so to be taken away from everything, and I'm very close to my family as well, I had to figure out, like who I was when I wasn't with them. I realized I was a very hard worker, even when no one was looking. I strive to be the best even when no one's around to see me."
TUF 23 Finale:
"Obviously I'm not happy with it. She D'arced me in training, so like I knew it was going to happen. That's probably why it did happen. I built it up a little bit. I worked on my defense and I worked on a lot of stuff in that fight camp... It's upsetting, you know. I'm upset with the results. I wanted to win obviously."
Silver lining:
"Every time I've lost, I've gotten better. I think I have a better opportunity coming from the loss than I do from the win, honestly. I'm very young, still, in this sport. I've got a lot to improve. I know I'm not where I want to be or where I need to be to be the best right now. So, had I won, maybe in 2 fights I'm fighting for a title that I'm not ready for. The loss sets me back but it also motivates me."
Change of scenery:
"I changed a little bit of my training and where I'm training at. I went to Texas and trained with a couple good fighters out there and a good team. Now I'm in Spokane, Washington training with Juliana Pena and Elizabeth Phillips and Rick Little. I'm really liking it here. I'm getting good training here and it feels good to be in a different area... It feels like I'm here for a fight like it did in the house."
Sight seeing in Northern Ireland:
"The UFC Octagon. That's about it. I'm there for business. I'm not there for play. Once I get in there, I'm mainly focusing on my media obligations and my weight cut and that's about it. I think I leave like a day after so I don't have much time to play. I have about 1 day after. I wish I could stay a little longer. It could be something I do later in the future, but right now, I'm just thinking about business and fighting and the celebration after."
Anna Elmose:
"This is the first time, actually, that I've studied a lot of my opponent. I've watched numerous tapes over and over again. Instead of just watching them, and waiting for them to make a mistake... I look for tendencies that she does every fight. Whether it's a kickboxing match or MMA fight, I found a lot of things she does the same over and over and over again. That's what I'm training for. I don't feel like she's great in any area. She's not a crazy good striker, she's not a crazy good grappler, crazy good wrestler. Pretty good at everything, so it's not like I need to gameplan specifically like not to get taken down or to get the takedown."
Prediction:
"I think I'm going to finish her with strikes in the second round. That's what I've been visualizing. She comes out pretty hard in the first round. She throws a ton of shots and tries to clinch up right away but it tires her out in every single fight. And she's cutting down to 115 so it should be even worse for her. I think the second round, she'll be exhausted and I'll start finding my distance and my range and start setting up shots a lot more."
Next?
"Another fight that's good for me, that challenges me, that makes me work hard during fight camp. A fight that I'm not in over my head, but I just plan on keep progressing as a fighter and finding my spot."
Watch Amanda Bobby Cooper battle it out with Anna Elmose at UFC Fight Night 99 in Belfast, Northern Ireland on November 19, 2016. Stay tuned to BloodyElbow for all your event coverage including interviews, play-by-play, highlights, and more!