Chelsea Conner, professional LFA MMA cage fighter, announced as the winner Saturday night in her match with Miki Rogers at Hobart Arena in Troy.
Sheryl Roadcap | Miami Valley Today
“Tiny Tank” Chelsea Conner lands a kick on Saturday night during her match with Miki Rogers at Hobart Arena in Troy. She thrilled fans topping off the night with the win.
Sheryl Roadcap | Miami Valley Today
By Sheryl Roadcap
TROY — “Tiny Tank” Chelsea Conner, professional LFA (Legacy Fighting Alliance) MMA (mixed martial arts) cage fighter, brought the house down Saturday night during her first fight on home turf at Hobart Arena with a win for fans against Miki Rogers.
Conner, of Piqua, and Rogers, of Mississippi, went three rounds, during the EGO MMA Combat Entertainment’s third fight of the series, before judges announced Conner as the winner. Saturday’s victory brings her professional record to four wins and three losses. Conner, member of she and husband/coach Johny Conner’s fight team Fightopia MMA, said immediately following her fight, which was the final and main event of the night, that she was feeling “lots of emotions.”
“The energy was insane,” she said, with a big smile on her face that had already started to bruise and slightly swell, about the large crowd turnout of support who chanted her name at times during the fight. “This was my first fight at home. I have fought in Ohio, but I guess it was considered in hostile territories. So to get to fight in my own back yard, it was pretty nuts. It was very surreal. It’s weird to fight with my teammates, because usually I just go away (to fight,) and now my teammates are here.”
She recalled being excited and that her emotions were up and down when watching the other 12 fights of the night, but recognized she needed to stay focused upon her own frame of mind and focus on her own upcoming match at the end of the evening.
“My teammates had a killer night. They really lubed it up for me, pretty much, and I just had to put the cherry on top and got the job done,” she said with a chuckle. “Miki took some punishment; I was very impressed.”
Fightopia is based out of Piqua at the Conners’ Smile Back Training Center, located at The Piqua Center. Johny established the gym over 15 years ago, but moved Smile Back from its North Wayne Street to The Piqua Center in March 2024. The couple named their gym after a hashtag Chelsea frequently uses on her Instagram account: #smileback, because, when she gets hit, she smiles back at her opponent.
Chelsea had previously said the (career) goal is just to do what she loves and help those younger than her who share her passion in the ring. But she expects to likely make it in the UFC, the largest MMA promotion company in the world based out of Las Vegas, by the end of 2024.
“The end of this year, is the game plan (to make it into the UFC). I will probably end up on the contender series, or something like that and have to work my way into the UFC, but either way, we should be getting a call soon,” she said.
Chelsea noted at the professional level it takes roughly four months to get ready for the next fight, so the body has time to heal and begin to train again.
She said her next fight could possibly be in August in Upper Sandusky, or in October at a different show, but nothing is set yet.
To follow Chelsea Conner’s career, Fightopia MMA’s fight schedule and the next group of fights in the EGO fight series, visit Smile Back’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100082955361685 or Chelsea’s social media pages at https://www.instagram.com/chelsea_conner_mma or https://www.facebook.com/chelsea.herring1
