A four fight win streak landed Amber Brown (6-4) an atomweight title fight against the then champion Ayaka Hamasaki last March. In a thrilling contest, the Japanese BJJ ace wound upsubmitting Brown via a brutal armbar. Brown then went on to lose her next two bouts. This Friday, after making some huge changes in her life, Brown looks to get back to winning ways.

Brown’s most recent fight came against Ashley Cummins at Invicta FC 22 this March. That bruising bout went the distance with Cummins taking a unanimous decision. “I don’t really consider the Cummins fight a loss,” Brown tells Bloody Elbow. “It was a hard fought decision. She did what she had to do to beat me, but I just didn’t want to get finished, coming off of two armbar losses prior to that. So to me it wasn’t a loss.”

According to Brown, the moral victory she experienced opposite Cummins provided a great learning experience. “I learned a lot in that fight. I learned I just need to be a different fighter and not get held down. To not be ok with being on my back and fighting. To always be advancing position.”

Brown says that the experience of being taken down by Cummins – and previous opponents – made her realize she needed to dedicate more time to wrestling and grappling. It’s something she’s made happen by switching camps and now Brown feels she is “a completely different fighter.”

Until recently Brown was a staple of Tom Vaughn’s FIT NHB in Albuquerque; home to UFC vetTim Means and recent UFC champion Nicco Montano. However, after the Cummins loss Brown decided she had to make a change.

Brown now trains at Albuquerque’s Luttrell/Yee MMA; a gym owned by Chris Luttrell and Ray Yee. Luttrell, with a background in judo and wrestling, is a longtime collaborator of Mike Winkeljohn and Greg Jackson. He was instrumental in training the first wave of Jackson-Wink fighters who would go on to achieve fame (and titles) inside the UFC.

Today he and striking coach Yee work with former UFC title challenger Claudia Gadelha and DWTNCS winner Jordan Espinosa. Brown credits this team for improving her all around skill-set, but especially her wrestling and ground game. In preparation for Friday Brown, has also spent time at the gym she and her husband founded in their hometown of Moriarty, NM.

Brown has had plenty of time to get used to the changes in her training regimen. It’s been almost nine months since her loss to Cummins. Few fighters would choose to be out of competition for that long, but Brown explains that the break between fights was actually beneficial.

“Normally I would say, I would like to stay a lot busier than that,” reveals Brown. “But since in these last nine months I’ve been training so much and trying to develop my game, it wasn’t really urgent for me to try and push for a fight. I was getting adjusted to the new gym and learning a lot, so that’s why I was ok with not fighting right away.”

Welcoming Brown back to competition this Friday is Tessa Simpson (5-2); who is coming off a loss to former Invicta atomweight champion Herica Tiburcio. Prior to meeting Tiburcio, the native of Guam had back-to-back wins over Satomi Takano and Simona Soukupova.

Brown doesn’t know a lot about Simpson, but that’s by design. The 28-year-old says she used to watch footage of opponents, but this time she’s decided to avoid that kind of research. “I’m just kind of more focused on me and what I’m going to do,” she reasons. “I haven’t watched any videos of her at all. I had seen her last two fights on Invicta, because I was watching the events, but I haven’t once looked back on them since I signed the contract. I’m leaving that all up to my coaches.”

Thanks to her memories of watching Simpson fight live, along with her confidence in her own ability to deliver an exciting fight, Brown is betting that fans of Invicta won’t be disappointed in the match-up.

“The fans can expect a dogfight,” says Brown. “I have the name The Bully for a reason. I am an aggressive fighter. No matter what, any fight that I’ve lost or won, I’ve always been real aggressive. I’m in your face the whole time. I’m not a counter striker. I’m going to be in this girl’s face the entire time.”

Brown will get a chance to deliver on that promise on UFC Fight Pass this Friday. Invicta FC 26is headlined by a flyweight title fight between Jennifer Maia and Agnieszka Niedzwiedz and features the promotional debut of Mackenzie Dern. The action begins at 8PM ET.