For the first time since 2013, TUF 18 competitor Peggy Morgan will be competing for an organization that’s not affiliated with the UFC. “Daywalker” will be fighting close to home on August 14th when she takes on Jessy Miele at CES 30. While he’s happy joining an established promotion like CES, she made it perfectly clear she still belongs to Invicta. “I love Invicta, I’m still signed to them and I’ll continue to fight for them in the future.” Morgan told MMAOddsBreaker. “They’re a really great company to work with and are very supportive of their athletes. I’ve worked with other promotions and I haven’t worked with one which is as dedicated to what’s best for their athletes.” After moving over to Invicta last year following her lone UFC defeat to Jessamyn Duke – at the TUF 19 Finale in November 2013 – Morgan went 1-2 with the promotion, suffering losses to Irene Aldana and Latoya Walker. Believing she wasn’t displaying her true skillset, she spoke with Invicta about competing outside the promotion in an effort to sharpen her skills. “I told them after my last fight, I don’t feel like I’m performing at my potential. I really just wanted to be able take more fights [and] where I’m not competing against Top 5 ranked girls every time. It’s just because I need to build up some experience, I never really had that opportunity, I went into the [Season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter] so quickly. So I need to be able to fight 4-5 times a year and I can’t ask Invicta to put me on show that often. They were very understanding about that, they thought that was a really good idea. It’s kind of the best interest for everybody if I’m getting better and putting on better performances for them.” Morgan (3-3) had a short stint on TUF 18 as she lost her quarter-final matchup to Sara Moraes on Episode 9. While she looks back on her TUF experience as a positive one, she didn’t feel like the audience got to see her true skill set. “It was positive in terms of it being a really good opportunity for me, it was early in my career I only had two pro fights at that point. I don’t think I was ready for it, but I’m glad I did it. Being cut off from my pretty much my entire support structure [including] my son, I think that was the hardest part. He was only three at the time and I didn’t know what he understood. I tried to communicate the best I could, but I mean he was only three. I didn’t know if he felt that I abandoned him, or if he thought I was dead or what he thought was going on. Just imagining him without his mom and not knowing why really bothered me. If [I could do the show again] I think I would do much better now. I think I’m in a much better place with my skills then I was then. So I think I think it would be a better experience in terms of the actual fighting. I think I’d be able to make more of the experience. I think honestly I would enjoy it more at this point, I didn’t feel I was ready. I kind of felt self-conscious I guess in a way, I felt out of place.” Prior to competing on TUF 18, Morgan worked as a teacher at the Southern New Hampshire University in the English department. Currently she is not teaching any more and is focussed full time on fighting. “I taught at Southern New Hampshire University for a few years. I actually do like teaching I really enjoy working with students, but I don’t entirely like the university curriculum, I feel like it’s very market driven. I didn’t feel like I was working in the best interest of my students as much as I was turning profit for the school and it really bothered me. Like in my case, I was getting paid poorly, my job was just to like keep as many students in the classroom. Basically maximizing profits it what it what it was about. It was very discouraging.” Nicknamed “Daywalker” the Triumph BJJ product admitted she was given the nickname based off an episode of South Park. “There is an episode of South Park, they find out that Kyle has red hair. So everybody is afraid of him because he’s a ginger. But there is also a classification that people who have red hair who can go out in the sun without burning and who don’t have freckles. They are called “day walkers”. So I tell people I’m not a ginger, I’m a day walker.” In preparation for this matchup, Morgan is splitting time like she usually does at Mass BJJ, Tim Burrell Jiu-jitsu and Triforce MMA with fellow TUF competitor Chuck O’Neil. Despite her opponent Miele winning three of her last four bouts, Morgan likes her chances in this fight. “We’ve watched a few tapes [on her], she’s good on the ground. I think I’m a much more proficient striker than she is. She’s aggressive, she comes in throwing bombs but I think technically I’m better. I think on the ground, I know she outranks me she’s a high level brown belt. I don’t feel like I’m going to be tremendously out gunned. I’m very physically strong and I’m good at MMA jiu-jitsu. Which haven’t really got to show in any of my fights for some reason I just love standing up and brawling. But I’m not worried if it goes to the ground. I see me knocking her out, a technical knockout is what I think. My hands have got a lot better but I’m not sure if I have that one punch knockout power yet. But I do see myself stopping her with punches.” Should Morgan emerge victorious on August 14th, she admitted there is no rush for her return to Invicta. Instead she’d rather wait and see how things go before she jumps back in with the top female promotion in the world. “Honestly I’d like to take a few fights with CES before I head back to Invicta. Even taking Invicta fights, I’d like to work with both promotions. I really like CES; I would love to be able to take a fight with CES in between Invicta fights going forward.” You can follow Peggy on Twitter @peggymorganmma and she would like to thank SmartPowders.com, Triforce MMA, Mass BJJ and Tim Burrells Jiu-Jitsu.
