HOUSTON – [autotag]Roxanne Modafferi[/autotag]’s farewell from MMA didn’t go as she wanted.
“The Happy Warrior” lost a hard-fought split decision to top prospect [autotag]Casey O’Neill[/autotag] in her retirement fight, 29-28, 28-29 and 28-29 on the judges’ scorecards.
The women’s flyweight bout was part of the UFC 271 preliminary card at Toyota Center and aired on ESPN ahead of the night’s pay-per-view main card.
Modafferi leaves the sport with her head held high despite the defeat.
“I’m OK with that last fight,” Modafferi said in her post-fight interview. “I gave it my all. It’s time to pass the torch to the next generation. I’m proud of myself. Even if you don’t win every time, you can still have an amazing time. This has been an amazing life journey.”
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It was a hard-fought bout, where Modafferi displayed a ton of heart and toughness.
In the first round, the fight developed solely on the feet. It was clear O’Neill had the better and harder shots, but Modafferi also had her moments. Modafferi bloodied O’Neill’s nose and gave her a black eye in the first five minutes of the fight.
The second round was far less competitive. O’Neill found her range both offensively and defensively and began picking apart Modafferi with slick combinations. Modafferi’s striking was less effective but did manage to score a takedown with seconds remaining in the round.
In the final round, Modafferi put forward a valiant effort, but O’Neill was far ahead in the striking. O’Neill connected hard and often. “The Happy Warrior” never took a step back despite the damage delivered by O’Neill.
With this result, O’Neill (9-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) remains unbeaten in her professional MMA career. She’s notched four consecutive UFC wins in just short of a year, having debuted for the promotion on Feb. 20, 2021. In her previous bout, O’Neill stopped UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko’s sister, Antonina, in a second-round TKO at UFC Fight Night 193 back in October.
On the other hand, Modafferi (25-20 MMA, 4-8 UFC) closes her nearly 20-year professional fighting career on loss. “The Happy Warrior” made her MMA debut in 2003 and since has compiled 46 professional fights.
The 39-year-old retires having fought for several major championship belts including UFC, Strikeforce and Invicta FC. Modafferi also hold many notable wins over Vanessa Porto, Andrea Lee, Antonina Shevchenko, Barb Honchak, Marloes Coenen, and others.
The up-to-the-minute UFC 271 results include:
- Casey O’Neill def. Roxanne Modafferi via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Kyler Phillips def. Marcelo Rojo via submission (armbar) – Round 3, 1:48
- Carlos Ulberg def. Fabio Cherant via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Ronnie Lawrence def. Mana Martinez via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-28)
- Jacob Malkoun def. AJ Dobson via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Douglas Silva de Andrade def. Sergey Morozov via technical submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 3:34
- Jeremiah Wells def. Blood Diamond via technical submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 4:38
- Maxim Grishin def. William Knight via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
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