Ashley Cummins is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the Strawweight division. She is currently signed with Invicta FC.
When Ashley “Smashley” Cummins was still very young, her mother had a concern about Cummins being able to protect herself in the future. She decided karate was a good place for her daughter to learn those skills. Cummins eventually moved on to soccer and softball, as well, and any spectator watching her play would’ve seen that self-defense or aggressiveness were not major issues.
It was aggressiveness that helped Cummins find her future career, which has seen quick success. Cummins was first a college soccer player before she followed a longtime desire to enter martial arts that included more striking and contact. She found an MMA community in her hometown of St. Louis that encouraged its fighters to be patient, so she started with muay Thai fights, jiu-jitsu tournaments and then her amateur MMA career.
Through the training and fighting, Cummins joined the St. Louis County police department, which adds an exercise element outside of her training. Sometimes, her MMA training even helps when pursuing suspects. In the meantime, Cummins hopes that she can continue her momentum. She credits much of her success to her slower-than-some advancement through training to fighting.
Cummins was an athlete from an early age. Growing up in a suburb of St. Louis, she started karate and soccer by the time she was 5 years old. Before long she was asking her parents to do kickboxing and wrestling, but they thought that was too serious for their daughter. Instead, she continued with the karate. She once said “I remember by the time I was like 7 years old I just loved to spar,” she said. “I would kick the crap out of the 7-year-old boys, back people up into the mirror and just pound them. I would just kick them as hard as I could until they would make me stop.”
It’s not that she loved karate, but it was her only option for combat sports. She participated in some tournaments and continued training until she was 18. At the same time, she was building a work ethic and leg strength with her soccer career, which went from high school to Southwest Baptist University in Missouri, a nationally ranked NCAA Division II team, and then McKendree University in Illinois. She said “I don’t have much muscle in my upper body, but my legs are huge,” Cummins said. “They’re like tree trunks in my quads and my thighs. That helps me. I can push girls around with my legs, and I think soccer helped that.”
After two years of college soccer, Cummins wanted to finally pursue her desire to try more combat sports. She had taken a few boxing and jiu-jitsu classes, but she wanted to be more serious. From the time she started training in more combat sports, Cummins wanted to sign up for fights. She wanted to move closer to home, so she researched gyms in the St. Louis area and landed at St. Charles MMA and Team Vaghi.
There were rules about when she could fight. Frankly, she didn’t like them at first. So Cummins went through the tournament process and then started some fighting in muay Thai. By the time she took her first amateur MMA fight, she was experienced with multiple kinds of events, and it proved useful in running to an 8-0 amateur MMA record.
She got an early boost when her second amateur fight was for a title in Las Vegas. A local fighter was heavily favored, but Cummins soaked up the atmosphere and scored a victory. It was a springboard through her amateur career. She made her professional debut in November 2011 with a five-round fight that went all the way into the fifth round before Cummins won by submission at the 1:41 mark of the round. Her next two fights both went to decisions, and both were unanimous, as Cummins has continued to prove
she can go deep into fights.
Meanwhile, she works full time as a police officer, getting extra conditioning in while on the job. She mixes work with training while hoping to score another victory and stay on her undefeated roll.
Ashley Cummins’s Professional Record
| Date | Result | Opponent | Event | Method | Round |
| 04/28/2012 | Win | Sofia Bagherdai | Invicta FC One | Decision Unanimous Decision | 3 |
| 01/28/2012 | Win | Stephanie Frausto | Caged Fury 16 | Decision Unanimous Decision | 3 |
| 11/18/2011 | Win | Chelsea Colarelli | Xtreme Fight Night 5 | Submission | 5 |
Ashley Cummins’s Amateur Record |
|||||
| 04/08/2011 | Win | Jocelyn Lybarger | The Future Stars of MMA! | Submission Arm Bar | 1 |
| 09/19/2010 | Win | Kalilah Bakar | HOOKnSHOOT 9/19/10 | Submission Arm Bar | 2 |
| 09/19/2010 | Win | Jessica Laubacker | HOOKnSHOOT 9/19/10 | Decision Unanimous Decision | 3 |
| 05/28/2010 | Win | Gabriella Lakoczky | Tuff-N-Uff 5/28/10 | Decision Unanimous Decision | 3 |
| 04/23/2010 | Win | Cathy Snell | Tuff-N-Uff 4/23/10 | Decision Split Decision | 3 |
Title won by Ashley Cummins
| Date | Title Holder | Defeated | Event |
| Dale Cook Flyweight Title | |||
| 11/18/2011 | Ashley Cummins | Chelsea Colarelli | Xtreme Fight Night 5 |
| Tuff-N-Uff Flyweight Title | |||
| 04/08/2011 | Ashley Cummins | Jocelyn Lybarger | The Future Stars of MMA! |
| 05/28/2010 | Ashley Cummins | Gabriella Lakoczky | Tuff-N-Uff |
All content on this site is copyright of Women Finess and no part of any article found on this site may be reproduced without an express permission and highlighted, do follow link crediting http://www.womenfitness.net/ or preferably the original page as the source. This interview is exclusive and taken by Namita Nayyar President womenfitness.net and should not be reproduced, copied or hosted in part or full anywhere without an express permission.
Ashley Cummins is a police officer and exceptionally talented American mixed martial artist. She is in conversation with Namita Nayyar President Women Fitness.
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
You have learned karate at the age of 5 years, developed your leg strength with your soccer career and has also been trained in muay thai, boxing, jiu-jitsu and martial arts. You reached the pinnacle of success in your amateur MMA fights with 8-0 amateur MMA record and presently signed with Invicta FC. Tell us about your journey that took you to where you are now in the world of being a women mixed martial art fighter? What factors you consider were responsible that made you achieve that?
Ms. Ashley Cummins:
My entire life I always was interested in fighting. In high school I wanted to learn boxing and kickboxing and join the high school wrestling team but my parents would not let me in fear I would get injured. Once I started college I started to train MMA because I figured my parents can’t stop me anymore and I still had a passion to learn combative fighting. I was instantly hooked to the sport and have trained constantly ever since.
I am a very goal oriented person. Once I started training my goal was to have at least one mma fight. After my first mma fight my goal was to continue with the sport and turn pro. Once I had my first pro fight, which I won and was a title fight, my goal was to fight for a prominent fight promotion. I now fight for Invicta. I think my goal oriented and competitive personality got me to where I am now in WMMA.
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
You had build your work ethic and leg strength with your soccer career, which went from high school to Southwest Baptist University in Missouri, a nationally ranked NCAA Division II team, and then McKendree University in Illinois. You once said “My legs are huge, they’re like tree trunks in my quads and my thighs. That helps me. I can push girls around with my legs, and I think soccer helped that.” Elaborate how these strong legs have given you the winning edge in your fights and what you do to maintain their strength?
Ms. Ashley Cummins:
Anyone that has watched any of my fights, ammy or pro, can see how any time I am clinched or tied up with my opponent in the middle or against the cage, I always have the edge and get in the dominating position. I believe this is due to my leg strength. No opponent has ever been able to pin my back against the cage for more than a second and I always have my opponents pinned against the cage for minutes at a time. I might not be the biggest female or most ripped in my division but I strongly believe I have the strongest legs. I always wear baggy shorts when I fight so no one ever sees how big my legs truly are. This is large in part due to my soccer career growing up and due to the fact I was an avid weight lifter and still am.
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
On 28th April 2012 in Kansas City, Kansas, United States you defeated Sofia Bagherdai in the event Invicta FC 1: Coenen vs. Ruyssen. Tell us about this winning fight and how did you feel on the winning the bout?
Ms. Ashley Cummins:
My fight on Invicta 1 was an amzing experience. It was the first ever fight card for Invicta. I knew I was apart of something special and a organization that was going to grow a lot bigger. I feel my fight against Sophia was a fun and entertaining fight. I was able to show some standing, wrestling, and ground technique and had a lot of fun being in the cage. I had a lot of friends and teamates there cheering for me and it was fun to celebrate with them afterwards.
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
You possess an exceptional fighter physique. What exercises comprise your fitness regime or workout routine you shall like to share?
Ms. Ashley Cummins:
Besides training MMA everyday, I also do strength and conditioning several times a week. This helps me improve my strength and cardio. The strength and conditioning training sessions are different everyday but are usually thirty minutes to a hour long and consist of several excersis done at a fast pace. For example, one day I might have to do 10 pull ups, 10 box jumps, push a weighted sled back and forth 2 times, five sprints, and 5 weighted bear crawls and that is all one set. Ill probably do all of that for five sets with a minute rest in between each set.
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Ms. Namita Nayyar:
Do you take some special diet or have a strict menu that you follow to remain healthy and physically fit?
Ms. Ashley Cummins:
Every fighter must eat healthy and have a strict diet to be able to make weight. I change up my diet every fight camp, which is eight weeks leading up to the fight. I also try to eat healthy when not training for a fight so I do not increase too much weight over my fight weight. The typical foods I eat are grilled chicken, veggie/fruit smoothies, eggs, almonds, brown rice, turkey, all veggies, fruit (usually bananas, apples, and blueberries), oatmeal, etc.
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
Advice and motivational words to the inspiring and budding mixed martial artist girls who all are your fans, they shall like to know from you, what they should do for their climb to ladder of success in field of women mixed martial art professional fighting?
Ms. Ashley Cummins:
Best advice I can give is never give up on your dreams. I have had a lot of setbacks in my career as a fighter and in law enforcement and by never giving up you will eventually get past the setbacks and florish in whatever it is. You don’t want to quit and later in life look back and wonder “what if?”
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
You came close to permanently losing vision in your eye courtesy one of the bout with Joanne Calderwood, but it did not stop you from returning to the cage. How you were able to overcome such a physical injury/setback and what advice you can give to fellow fighter person in a similar situation?
Ms. Ashley Cummins:
In MMA injuries are apart of the sport. Some worse than others. Mine was devastating just for the fact for an entire week I could not see. I laid in bed all week waiting for surgery and scared wondering if my vision was ever going to come back or if I was going to loose my job or ever be able to fight again. I recovered from surgery and my vision slowly started to come back. I took a few months off from training after recovering to try to give time to myself and see if I wanted to continue fighting and possibly risk loosing my vision again.
My time away from MMA I missed the sport and competing and realized I cannot have MMA not in my life. I slowly started to train and spar again and saw being punched in the face was not affecting my vision at all and was confident the metal plate surgically put in my face would prevent another simialr injury. My advice after a devasting injury is take some time to yourself and see if continuing in the sport is someone you want to pursue or if retiring to let your body heal is what is most important for you.
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
With exceptional hard work you are credited with all your achievements. Do you believe that does the hand of Providence (Supreme Being) played a role in your success?
Ms. Ashley Cummins:
Of course! Without hard work you will not achieve anything. That includes any sport or profession outsode of MMA.
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Ms. Namita Nayyar:
Elaborate on your endeavour of working as a Police officer?
Ms. Ashley Cummins:
I am also a full time police officer. Having a full time job does make being a pro fighter more difficult as far as getting to the gym to train but I make it work. I love both my professions of being an officer and fighter and would never want to give up one or another. I think each profession helps the other one in different ways. Being a officer helps my fight career in the mental aspect and being a fighter helps my police career in the physical aspect.
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
Who has been your greatest influencer and motivator in your success in the field of your career in competitive women mixed martial art professional fighting?
Ms. Ashley Cummins:
My greatest motivator has been my parents. I have had a lot of ups and downs in my mma career and they always supported me and helped me get through everything. They instilled in me that “never quit” mentality.
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
What you wish to say about the website Womenfitness.net and message for its visitors?
Ms. Ashley Cummins:
Thank you to womensfitness.net for the opportunity and all the fans and supporters of WMMA and Women Fitness.
To know more about Ashley Cummins latest endevour, check her out at:http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Ashley-Cummins-65896
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Women Fitness Team thanks Ashley Cummins for giving her valuable time for this interview and quenching the thirst of her fans to know more about her and also wish to thank Hector Castro from Maximum Fighting Group who made this interview happen.
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All content on this site is copyright of Women Finess and no part of any article found on this site may be reproduced without an express permission and highlighted, do follow link crediting http://www.womenfitness.net/ or preferably the original page as the source. This interview is exclusive and taken by Namita Nayyar President womenfitness.net and should not be reproduced, copied or hosted in part or full anywhere without an express permission.