Modafferi: I want to become strong enough to always smile
Roxanne Modafferi turned 34 at midnight today. Last night, she fought for the Invicta FC flyweight belt vs. Jennifer Maia,…
Roxanne Modafferi turned 34 at midnight today. Last night, she fought for the Invicta FC flyweight belt vs. Jennifer Maia, and won on one judge’s scorecard, while losing on two others. It capped a career that has seen great highs and great lows.
Modafferi began competing in MMA while she was in Japan during her junior year abroad in college. She went 3-0 in women’s events that did not allow face punching on the ground.
In her first fight under full rules, she fought the most dominant female fighter in the world – Jennifer Howe, who was 12-0 with 11 knockouts. Roxy beat Howe. It was impossible.
Then Modafferi entered a one-night, eight-woman tournament, with no weight division. In the first fight, she beat 200+ lbs. BJJ black belt Ana Carolina. In the second fight, she lost to Megumi Yabushita. Fujita had just won the first fight by grabbing opponent Shannon Hooper’s wrist and doing a front roll, breaking it. Yabushita would go on the win the event when the incredible Erin Toughill was disqualified for an illegal, rib-breaking elbow.
Next up was a rematch with Howe, and Modafferi won that too. That was Modafferi’s first peak.
Then she went 1-3, losing to Laura D’August, Tara LaRosa, and Shayna Baszler. The sole win was a rematch with Megumi Yabushita.
During this time Modafferi graduated from college and moved to Japan. It was a low, but the beginning of Roxy’s next peak – she went 8-1, beating the likes of the far larger Marloes Coenen, Vanessa Porto, and winning a rematch with LaRosa.
That earned her a shot at Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Sarah Kaufman. Roxy got knocked out by a slam, and she lost the next four.
Still, her record was such that she was asked to be a cast member in The Ultimate Fighter 17. The then grappling-based fighter won her first TUF fight, vs. Valerie Letourneau, via choke. She lost the second TUF fight to Jessica Rakoczy, but was given a UFC fight in the TUF Finale vs. Raquel Pennington, and lost that too. Going 1-7 is generally as low as it gets, the end of the line, but it was not.
Modaferri loved the training in the USA and left her beloved Japan to move to Las Vegas and train with John Wood at Syndicate MMA. She signed with Invicta and turned her career around entirely, developed hands, and went 4-1 in the world’s foremost WMMA league. It was capped with the title shot at Maia. The winner would be the best 125 women’s MMA fighter on Earth.
Modaferri came up just shy.
She reflected immediately afterwards, her face showing the effects of going five rounds with a Chute Boxe trained world champion.
“It was an honor to fight Jennifer Maia,” began Modafferi. “More than the belt, I wanted to fight the number one fighter and win. I thought it was a close fight. Didn’t go quite as I had planned. But I got to try out my techniques. She was the better woman tonight.”
The goofy reporter asked a question that someone who had fought, or thought, would never ask.
“What rounds did you think you won tonight?” he enquired.
It’s hard for judges sitting cageside to figure out who won (none of the three agreed). Fighters are busy fighting and trying to win, not determine who showed the superior effective aggression and cage generalship, etc. Roxy patiently explained MMA to the reporter.
“All the rounds kind of blended together,” she replied. “But I think she landed some more punches on me. My nose is a little bit numb right now, so she did a good job. Everything is blending together, so I will rewatch the fight, and see what I can improve.
“She’s a great fighter, and it was an honor to fight her.”
“Everyone’s asking if my nose is broken. I haven’t looked in the mirror yet, but I guess something’s wrong with it. Just don’t show my mom, and my dad. Just don’t look at me. ***Holds hand over lower half of face*** Maybe I should wear a ninja mask. People would do ‘Oh, that’s Roxanne.'”
“Part of my disappointment – I’ve never had such a good camp in my life. I never been in such good shape. I’ve never felt so good about my technique. And I still couldn’t win.
“But that’s goals for the next fight. I always wake up in the morning excited to train, so nothing has changed with that. I just want to improve, like a martial artist.
“I’m always a white belt. I want to become strong enough to smile no matter what happens. I left the cage with a smile, so that’s an accomplishment for me.
“The Happy Warrior is my persona, it’s part of me. So I want to show to myself and to the world that I can still be true to myself and to my feelings, even in the darkest of times. This isn’t the darkest of times in my life, but it still feels horrible. I want to smile and carry on. That’s my motto – smile and carry on.”
In closing, the interviewer asked what do you do now, after the fight?
“My fans and friends and family will always support me,” she said. “They just don’t want to see me sad they want to see me happy. So we’re going to go out and have ice cream and they’ll probably try hard not to talk about my nose.”