Roxanne Modafferi is a legend of the women’s MMA scene with over forty professional fights and a black belt in BJJ to her name, but she’s just announced her intention to retire after he next fight at UFC 271. Modafferi has been competing as a professional for longer than most other women in the sport at this point in time, having started her career all the way back in 2003. In that time she’s fought at Flyweight, Bantamweight, Featherweight, and even Openweight, across virtually every promotion imaginable. She was busy making a name for herself and amassing dozens of fights before the UFC had even decided to open up women’s divisions at all.
When Ronda Rousey became the first female UFC champion in 2013, Modafferi was already 15-10 with several regional belts around her waist and had fallen just short of winning a StrikeForce title too. It was then that she was called up to the first female season of The Ultimate Fighter and although she didn’t win, she still earned her UFC debut. After an unsuccessful start, Modafferi went to Invicta FC instead and earned her way to a Flyweight title shot there. She lost a close split decision to Jennifer Maia but earned herself a return to the UFC as a contender on another season of The Ultimate Fighter, eventually culminating in her taking part in the promotion’s first ever Flyweight title fight against Nicco Montano.
She’s been plying her trade in the UFC ever since and has even been active on the professional grappling circuit as well, having challenged Amanda Loewen for the Submission Underground absolute title. When all is said and done with the career of Roxanne Modafferi at UFC 271, she will be able to retire with her head held high knowing that she was genuinely on of the pioneers of women’s MMA and fans of hers will likely still get the chance to see her in action on the occasional grappling fight night event.
Modafferi will be taking on undefeated prospect Casey O’Neill who has only just started her ascent through the promotion’s rankings, winning all three of her UFC fights so far by finish. Most recently she managed to knock out Antonina Shevchenko, older sister of the Flyweight champion Valentina, in the second round of their fight. Roxanne Modafferi represents an incredibly tough fight for the young fighter but would be a huge feather in her cap as she starts to make her case for a title shot, regardless of whether she chooses to retire after their fight at UFC 271.
The full UFC 271 event, including Roxanne Modafferi in her final fight before she chooses to retire, is available to watch live on UFC FightPass on February 12th, 2022, click here to subscribe and watch.
