Issue 174

December 2018

From cheerleader to fighter, Yoder has overcome tragedy to compete at the top level.

TALE OF THE TAPE:

• UFC Strawweight
• Age: 32
• Record: 7-5-0
• Team: Team Quest

*The following interview took place in 2018*

Q. You were coming o three straight losses. How much additional pressure does that fact bring going into the fight with Amanda Bobby Cooper at UFC Denver?

AY: The UFC could have cut me after my first loss, let’s be real. The UFC do whatever they want. The pressure has always been there. Not getting the finishes and not getting the wins is definitely hard on the soul. I love to fight and I love to put on a show for the fans. I think that’s pretty obvious in my fights. It’s just about trying to get it figured out, to get tuned in and triggered to figure out how to get these finishes. It’s a learning experience. Maybe I am a slower learner than others. At the end of the day I just want to put on a good fight for the fans. I came in with no background. I am trying to get better at wrestling because I never wrestled.

I am trying to get better at jiu-jitsu because I have never done it. It’s a very chaotic game of trying to learn everything but this is what I signed up for. I love it. I love the process. I have a lot of respect for ABC. On the show we were cool. We borrowed each other’s clothes and stuff. There are no ill feelings there. I have a lot of respect for her. I like to a have an opponent who likes to fight and I know she does.

Q. You talked about what a loss does for the soul. Let’s flip the script. What does a win do for the soul?

It gives you that confidence back that you had when you were wining before. I was winning with armbars left and right. Even in jiu-jitsu I was beating girls I shouldn’t have been beating and not having a background in the art. It doesn’t matter, win or lose, you are still putting the same energy in to camp. You are still putting one hundred percent into the camp. To have that taken away with a loss is hard. If you want it bad enough you will suck it up, fix the issues and get back in there and be the true warrior that I know I am. You learn from losses but a win can change your whole game.

Q. Speaking of wins, which one from your career are you most happy with?

One of my most proud fights was against Liz Tracey when I fought her in BAMMA. What really showed me who the person I am and how tough I am was when I fought Liz. If you watch that fight every other second is me with her in a submission or her with me locked in a submission. For fifteen minutes straight we were throwing each other around the cage. It was relentless. It was non-stop action. I almost went unconscious. She almost went unconscious. I almost broke her arm. It was back and forth. To me, it showed me how tough I was. I legit, at one point, was nearly unconscious. All I remember was my coach saying ‘Don’t effing tap!’ I was going to tap. The next round I had her in the same exact position and her corner was yelling the same thing. It was the most intense fight I have ever had. It was life and career-changing for me.

Q. You train with the legendary Team Quest. How great is it to have an MMA God in Dan Henderson to help guide your career?

I think I take it for granted at this point. I think of Dan as my dad.I was just telling him he is like my dad. The cool thing about Dan, from the first day he met me he saw how serious I was and he saw that my drive was there. He has really taken up with me to fine tune the small details of wrestling. He has done MMA for so long that he is so well rounded and understands the game so well that he can help with anything, well, maybe not head kicks. He claims to be a head kick expert because he kicked Hector Lombard in the head but I don’t know if you ever saw this guy kick but he doesn’t bend very well. He has been very inspirational and he has really guided me in the right direction.

Q. You spent some time as a lifeguard when you were growing up. What’s your favorite story from those days?

I have a ton of stories I could tell you. One that sticks out to me was when I was managing the pool. Outside of the front of our city pool there were always kids jumping bikes, like BMX bikes on ramps and stuff. As a manager, I still have to manage that area. One of the kids comes up to me, he’s probably like 15 years old and about six feet tall. He told me he fell off his bike and hurt himself. He grabs near his collar bone. He had a T-shirt on and I saw a poke through. He was yellow at this point.

I told him to pull the shirt down so I could see and I could see his bone sticking out of his skin. I showed him with my phone and he literally passed out on top of me. He fell on top of me on the ground. I could not move. We called the EMT to help this man-child and to get him off of me. They came and revived him. He was so excited that he collapsed on top of me. I was wondering if this was real life.

Q. You have multiple degrees from the University of Indiana but found your way into combat sports after losing your brother in a car accident. How did you channel those emotions into a career in MMA?

I lost my brother and then two years almost to the day I lost my little cousin. I had lost a couple of classmates in that timeframe as well. I was experiencing all kinds of traumatic death. When it came to my brother it really put me in this weird phase in my life and I didn’t know how to get out of it. I didn’t think anyone could relate. I didn’t think that anyone understood what I was going through. He passed away on my birthday. One of my friends invited me to come to the gym and punch the bag. So I got exposed to that and then got to the phase where people were hearing my story and then they felt comfortable to reach out to me and tell me their stories. You see how many people are affected by tragedy every single day.

It’s not about whose is worse, it’s about channeling some kind of outlet. Mine was fighting. Who would have thought? I was a cheerleader and swimmer and dancer. I had never been in a fistfight in my life except for defending myself against my brother. The only fighting experience I could have put down on a resume? would be running from my brother as he was chasing me. Those were the only experiences I had in combat. When I came to actually doing it and finding that, it must have been a godsend. Even going back and talking to my teachers in high school, they can’t believe I am a fighter. That was not my demeanour. I was the goofy class- mate that was never serious. I am really glad that my story can affect someone in a positive light and they can see that there are other ways to make it through and there is light on the other side of tragedy. You just have to find it.