Ukiah native Ashlee Evans-Smith fighting UFC newcomer Saturday

Ashlee Evans-Smith was the kind of girl who, when told she couldn't do something, went out and did it.

The Ukiah native - and state wrestling champion her sophomore year at Ukiah High School - has parlayed that confidence and athletic ability into a career as a professional mixed martial arts athlete.

She fights on the undercard of Saturday's UFC Fight Night, which features a marquee title bout between flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson and Wilson Reis.

Evans-Smith, 29, ranked 13th in the women's UFC bantamweight division, brings a 5-1 record into the fight against Brazilian Ketlen Vieira, undefeated in seven bouts.

Her bold streak came out again in discussing the fight this week.

“I'm going to knock this girl out in the first or second round,” Evans-Smith said from Kansas City, where she was preparing this week.

Vieira has one other UFC fight on her record, a split decision in October against Kelly Faszholz, who trains out of Santa Rosa's NorCal Fighting Alliance and now fights with Invicta FC.

The 25-year-old Vieira comes from a judo background and uses jiu-jitsu moves as well.

Evans-Smith expects to counter that with her grappling and striking.

“She's a big strong girl,” she said. “We've worked on a lot of striking. We know she'll try to do throws. But she's not that great of a fighter.”

Both women are 5-foot-8 and 135 pounds.

Evans-Smith is riding a two-fight winning streak in the UFC, which includes a win against No. 12 Marion Reneau in February 2016 and a third-round knockout of previously unbeaten Veronica Macedo in September. She has three knockouts in her five wins.

Her only loss was to No. 4 Raquel Pennington by submission in December 2014.

Vieira, a former law student in Brazil, has two knockouts and three wins by submission among her seven wins, with three of those wins coming in the first round.

UFC bios of the two contenders say Vieira is also an aggressive grappler, while Evans-Smith's biggest strength is her “ground and pound.”

Their bout is scheduled early in Saturday's event, airing at 1 p.m. on Fox Sports.

Evans-Smith said she didn't play many sports growing up in Ukiah, but was a pretty tough kid in general.

“My brother's friend said girls can't wrestle. I was like 15 years old, ‘Woman power - I can do anything you can do,'” she said. “So I joined the wrestling team at 16.”

She practiced with the boys for three years and advanced to girls state competition three years in a row, winning the state championship in the 146-pound class as a sophomore.

She won a wrestling scholarship to Menlo College, where she was an All-American all four years.

Admittedly a little lost after college and unable to find a job in Silicon Valley with her mass communications degree, Evans-Smith started playing on a club rugby team to keep her athletic juices flowing.

She soon met former UFC fighter Eugene Jackson, who was developing an MMA gym in East Palo Alto, and said “the dots just connected.”

She fought seven times in five months and fell in love with the idea of being a “combat sport athlete.”

“I loved wrestling and anything that was physically aggressive and intense,” she said. “I played rugby, but it wasn't the same.

“There's something about the fighting aspect of it, enforcing your will onto somebody else. It's not really ladylike, but we're all primal.”

A typical storyline of MMA fighters is that they come from a rough childhood, and that's not too far off for Evans-Smith, she acknowledged.

“Some people have a fiery side to them. Some people will say with a rougher upbringing or family problems, MMA is a way to channel it,” she said. “I didn't have the best upbringing, but not the worst.

“I was definitely an angry child. Some girls like to fight; some like to paint their nails. I like both, actually. I've always been a nonconformist.”

Evans-Smith eventually moved to Southern California and turned pro in 2013 after her first nine amateur fights.

She currently trains in Laguna Hills.

The year she turned pro, the UFC had no women's division. Now there are two weight classes and Evans-Smith said they are building a third.

She acknowledged that mixed martial arts walks the line between entertainment and sports, and said she is finding her way among her fellow female pioneers in an overwhelmingly macho and testosterone-driven industry.

She's not immune to the drama and trash-talking that accompanies professional fighting.

Her second pro bout was against Fallon Fox, a transgender MMA athlete.

Evans-Smith said before the bout she thought Fox shouldn't be allowed to fight women because of potential physical advantages, but won in a third-round TKO.

And she knows men aren't necessarily fans because they appreciate women's fighting skills.

She's been called a “siren of scuffle.” A website featuring women MMA fighters is called babesofMMA.com.

“I probably get more male supporters because they enjoy the aesthetics of watching women fight,” she said. “But I have women contact me saying I'm inspirational or whatever. I don't care why you watch - just watch.”

After entering the sport for enjoyment, she said she'll take her fighting career as far as it will go.

Then she may work in sports management.

“I just wanted to do it because it's fun and I thought maybe I'll find a real job later. I got lucky and it turned into a real job,” she said. “Women are headlining cards all over the world. UFC is a household name.

“As I grow as a professional athlete, my name is growing. People recognize me. In Germany, I was walking down the street and people recognized me. I can't think of any other word than ‘surreal' for a little girl from Ukiah.”

You can reach staff writer Lori A. Carter at 707-521-5470 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @loriacarter.