ARLINGTON, TX, March 13, 2013 – The next Xtreme Knockout (XKO) event scheduled for Friday March 23rd will be a landmark one for the organization as it featured their very first Women’s MMA fight. That’s been the trend lately as seen at LFC 18 when Lauren Taylor took on Jennifer Scott but this will be the first such pro women’s fight held in the Dallas / Fort Worth area this year and second since Amber Stautzenberger fought Paige Van Zant this past September on the Premier Fight Series 2 card held in Arlington.
This time around, Amber Stautzenberger returns to take on a new challenge debuting pro Ashley Allen of Ground King Jiu-Jitsu. The two actually have some side history of sorts previous to this fight with Stautzenberger’s boyfriend Tristan Grimsley submitting Ashley’s striking coach Julian Pinales at XKO 17. Surely that might be worth a note here but in actually, both these women should be focused on nothing else besides the other come fight time.
We recently caught up to Amber to get her thoughts on the fight and where she is in her development. Competing in her first amateur fight in December 2007, this fight versus Allen at XKO 18 will mark her tenth time stepping into the cage and fifth year of competition overall but it’s most recently where she feels she’d make the most gains.
“I feel that I have grown as a person and fighter since my last couple fights,” she says leading into March 23rd. “My training and mentality has changed completely. Winning is the only option. I get the biggest high after winning. That’s the feeling I always want to feel. I don’t question myself anymore. I just want to make it to the top.”
Amber will be heading into this fight off the heels of a first round armbar submission over Summer Artherton this past January way up in Fargo, North Dakota. She took the faraway fight to test herself but she hasn’t stopped since then either. According to her she’s spent the time since that win working on her MMA and strength and conditioning and she honestly has never felt this great.
“I’m excited for this fight (at XKO 18) in Arlington. It will be her (Ashley Allen’s) pro debut and it’s my third pro fight. I might have more experience but I know her BJJ is legit so I’m training to be ready for everything. My training camp has gone a completely different direction this time around. I train 2 to 3 times a day, six days a week. My conditioning feels great. After workouts I feel like I can keep going and going. I feel pretty beastly and I think I will perform the way I feel. Winning is my only option.”
It seems like a focused on ready Stautzenberger is looking to be a force to contend with in Women’s MMA for 2013. After this fight she finally gets to fight Jordan Gaza in April and she has more fights lined up after that as well. Then it’s full steam ahead for the “Apex Predator” as long as she keeps winning.
As always, make sure to tune back in here to TXMMA.com and follow us on Facebook for event results on March 23rd.
Fighter Acknowledgements
“I just want to say thank you to my sponsors for supporting me all the way! AmmoToGo.com, Kimura Wear, Gamma Labs, M. King Construction, Michelle from Inova Richardson. I want to thank my team at Mohler MMA, and mostly give thanks to my Coaches/Corners Allen Mohler, Tristan, and William for taking your time to help me improve. Thanks to everyone that supports me! To get tickets to my fight go to www.cagetix.com or www.xtremeknockout.com. Please, mention me when you make your purchase!”