Roxanne Modafferi is walking away from MMA competition following UFC 271 and she’s detailed why that will be the case.
Modafferi will end her pro MMA career having had 45 fights. Her record going into UFC 271 is 25-19. It’s a warrior’s record but Modafferi has found a way to stay relevant through her competitiveness and bubbly personality.
Swan Song
Roxanne Modafferi addressed her decision to retire during the UFC 271 pre-fight press conference. She said the motivation to continue trading strikes simply isn’t there anymore (h/t MMAJunkie.com).
“One was I feel like I used to wake up at 4 a.m. full of energy, like, ‘Let’s eat breakfast. Let’s go for a jog. Let’s do pushups,’ Modafferi told media members, including MiddleEasy. “Now I’m waking up at 6, like, ‘I don’t want to have Mortal Kombat at 10 a.m., now.’ My body just doesn’t feel like it. I really want to focus more on jiu-jitsu,” Modafferi said. “I’ve been really feeling that urge rather than ‘let’s punch each other.’
“Also, I feel like in training after a hard sparring session, I ended up getting headaches. I don’t want to go down that path of brain trauma. I think I’ve been lucky to have 49 fights and not have brain trauma. I started wearing headgear , and that problem got better. But it sucks to wear headgear because people grab it and you’re like, ‘I’m getting choked by the headgear with the strap around my neck.’ It’s not as fun anymore as it used to be. I want to give 100 percent to my fight camps. I feel like I might not be able to moving forward. So I feel like now is a good time to change my life.”
Modafferi will share the Octagon with Casey O’Neil this Saturday night (Feb. 12). The action will take place inside the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. MiddleEasy is on the scene and you can keep it locked on our homepage for continued coverage.
