Apologies for letting this thread languish!
While I was able to put together the semblance of a basic fighting game movement system, a lot of work still needed to be done. I am constantly figuring out ways to do things in UE4 more effectively and in some situations, systems and features I planned on using turned out not to be the best fit for what I was attempting.
This thread is going to go dark. Initially I was to be stationed at HQ for an extended period of time, but instead I hit the road shortly after starting this project and have been on the go since. As such, time to work on the fighting game has been non existent.
Unfortunately the fighting game framework is going turn into a an extremely long term, slow burn hobby project. 
When I am able to make progress, I will be sure to send updates here.
Thanks!