As a result of their UFC 271 bouts, all 28 fighters were handed medical suspensions of varying durations by the Texas commission.
Two fighters are facing indefinite suspensions as a result of their UFC 271 bouts.
UFC 271 took place Saturday at Toyota Center and featured 14 bouts, including a middleweight title rematch between champion [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] and challenger [autotag]Robert Whittaker[/autotag].
Of the 10 main card competitors, hometown favorite Derrick Lewis received the longest suspension from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) for his upset knockout loss to Tai Tuivasa. He now faces two months on the shelf.
Two preliminary card fighters, Marcelo Rojo and Maxim Grishin, were suspended indefinitely. Unlike many other commissions, TDLR does not release injury details, so specific causes for their suspensions are not known.
On Tuesday, MMA Junkie acquired a full list of medical suspensions from MixedMartialArts.com, the official record keeper of the Association of Boxing Commissions. All fighters’ suspensions can terminate sooner should they be cleared by a doctor.
Check out the full UFC 271 medical suspensions below.
Roxanne Modafferi is proud of her performance in her final fight at Saturday’s UFC 271.
HOUSTON – [autotag]Roxanne Modafferi[/autotag] didn’t get the result she hoped for, but she’s still happy with her farewell from professional fighting.
The longtime fighter retired Saturday after a nearly 20-year career in MMA. Modafferi (25-20 MMA, 4-8 UFC) engaged in a gritty, hard-fought battle against Casey O’Neill on the preliminary card of UFC 271. Although Modafferi displayed heart, she came up short on the judges’ scorecards and lost a split decision.
“The Happy Warrior” thought she did enough to get the nod from the judges, but either way, is happy with how she performed in her final fight.
“I kind of thought I won,” Modafferi told reporters at the UFC 271 post-fight press conference. “I know we both hit each other a lot. I hit her with some great stuff and I took her down a couple of times. I thought I might’ve gotten the victory. She also hit me a bunch.
“I was happy while they were doing the split, although I wanted the victory. But congrats to her. She’s a really strong competitor.”
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Modafferi has been fighting since 2003. The bout against O’Neill marked her 46th professional contest. The 39-year-old is at peace with her decision to hang up the gloves and her preparation ahead her final battle.
“I feel like I made good decisions for my last training camp and I feel very accomplished with what I did,” Modafferi said. “It’s very unfortunate that I have a loss and it hurts my soul a little bit, but I’m OK with my decisions.
“I just want to take a moment to thank my team, Syndicate MMA, and my head coach John Wood, my strength and conditioning coach Lorenzo Pavlica, Mike Pyle. Also, Johnny Parsons. He really helped me evolve in this last camp. And Chris Roman, my fiance.”
Modafferi retires having fought for several major championship belts, including in the UFC, Strikeforce and Invicta FC. Modafferi holds notable wins over Vanessa Porto, Andrea Lee, Antonina Shevchenko, Barb Honchak, Marloes Coenen and others.
Roxanne Modafferi closes out 20-year MMA career with a loss to Casey O’Neill at Saturday’s UFC 271.
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.
MMA Junkie’s John Morgan walks you through the key storylines heading into UFC 271 in Houston.
The UFC returns to Houston for the third time in nine months, and a potentially epic middleweight title fight sits atop the bill.
While the championship matchup between reigning titleholder Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker is deservedly getting the lion’s share of attention for Saturday’s UFC 271, it’s hardly the only intriguing storyline that will unfold at Toyota Center.
Ahead of this weekend’s pay-per-view event, here are seven reasons to watch.
Women’s MMA pioneer Roxanne Modafferi will retire without winning a major title, but she’s “just so happy” thinking about her career.
[autotag]Roxanne Modafferi[/autotag] is gearing up for her final battle.
“The Happy Warrior” will soon end a nearly 20-year career fighting some of the toughest and most skilled athletes in women’s MMA history. Modafferi (25-19 MMA, 4-7 UFC), one of the most seasoned and experienced mixed martial artists today, makes her final walk to the cage this Saturday in Houston, where she takes on highly touted unbeaten prospect Casey O’Neill at UFC 271 from Toyota Center.
Modafferi has fought professionally since 2003, with UFC 271 marking her 45th pro bout. If you count her exhibitions during two stints on “The Ultimate Fighter,” make that 50 career fights, a number unmatched by any woman ever.
Modafferi unassumingly has traversed a long road to say the least. And as expected, the battle scars have added up.
“OK, I’m going to be completely honest with you – over this past year, I’ve been starting to feel more affected by blows to the head in training,” Modafferi told MMA Junkie. “You know, like getting hit hard, I used to be able to eat it, and now I’m like, ‘That kind of sucked.’ I’ve had headaches, so I had to just be like, ‘Got to be super careful now.’
“(I) choose my training partners. I dug up my head gear, you know. I just got to be safe with that. So I decided, all right, that was the promise I made to myself: Once I started feeling like anything possible with my brain, I’ll quit. So I’m taking steps now. I can get through another fight camp, but I think it’s about time.”
Apart from health precautions, there are other reasons why Modafferi has decided to retire. At 39, she feels as though the game is passing her by – something many fighters have a difficult time admitting. Also, having dedicated almost two decades of her life to a fighting career, Modafferi believes it’s time to devote her energy into her personal life.
“I feel like these young whippersnappers are coming up and like, I’m still working hard, I’m still trying to get stronger, but I feel like all these young guys are starting to kind of muscle me around a little bit,” Modafferi said. “I was not that happy with my performance in the last several fights. …
“Now I have found the love of my life in (fellow fighter) Chris Roman. So maybe I can think about having a family now. Like, that was never an option before. I’ve been single for like decades, but you know, now I can actually think about that, so yeah.“
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BJJ beginnings and Japanese MMA roots
Modafferi’s storied journey in MMA is, in many ways, fascinating and remarkable but also maybe unknown and under-appreciated by the modern MMA fan.
Rolling with the punches, Modafferi somewhat unintentionally became a pioneer and one of the few – maybe the only – females to stand the test of time by fighting through the birth and explosion of women’s MMA.
Modafferi began training judo and jiu-jitsu back in her college days at the University of Massachusetts. She then started to get her feet wet in MMA training at Amherst Athletic Club in Massachusetts.
Roxanne Modafferi got her combat sports start competing in Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournaments. (Photos courtesy of Roxanne Modafferi)
“The girls that I was competing against in the grappling tournaments started debuting and doing MMA,” Modafferi recalled. “And then I saw, like I was really inspired by Robbie Lawler, Aaron Riley and Matt Serra. I was really struck by those guys and was like, ‘I’m going to do this too.’ And basically my goal was to be able to do my jiu-jitsu in MMA and prove that it was awesome and submit people.”
Shortly after graduating with a major in Japanese language and literature and a minor in linguistics, Modafferi moved to Japan for work in the early 2000s. She became an English teacher.
And it was in “The Land of the Rising Sun” that Modafferi’s MMA journey took off.
“When I went to Japan, I told the new sensei there, ‘Hey, I’d like to fight.’ And they’re like, ‘OK, how about in a month?’ I’m like, ‘Oh, really?’ So I fought in Smackgirl. That was my debut in Japan,” Modafferi said.
Well over a decade before Invicta FC came onto the scene, Japanese MMA promotion Smackgirl focused solely on female fighters. It was founded in 2001 and ran until 2008. Modafferi debuted in November 2003, scoring a first-round submission by tapping out Hikaru Shinohara in less than two minutes with an armbar in front of a Tokyo crowd.
Clockwise from top left: Roxanne Modafferi in 2001, 2003 and 2004. (Photos courtesy of Roxanne Modafferi)
From there, Modafferi went on to have plenty of success in the growing but still obscure scene of women’s MMA, which was often ridiculed and nothing compared to today. But that didn’t mean Modafferi wasn’t a force and a serous contender.
Modafferi went 15-5 in her first 20 professional bouts, and she made plenty of noise. During that stretch, she won the Fatal Femmes Fighting lightweight title and successfully defended it against future Invicta FC champion Vanessa Porto with a third-round TKO.
Modafferi also won the one-night, eight-woman K-Grace women’s open-weight tournament where she defeated two opponents before pulling off a major upset against future Strikeforce champion Marloes Coenen, who was 13-1 at the time.
“I won the K-Grace one-night openweight tournament in Japan, and that was really cool,” Modafferi recalled. “I had to fight three women in Japan in one night, openweight, and I won. Yay! That was really awesome. That felt really good. I was very proud of that.”
Roxanne Modafferi during the 2007 K-Grace openweight tournament in Tokyo. (Photos courtesy of Roxanne Modafferi)
Adversity hits
From 2007 to 2010, Modafferi went on an impressive run of 8-1, mostly in Japan, with increasing calls from abroad. It was then that she was given the opportunity to fight for the Strikeforce women’s bantamweight title – arguably the most prestigious belt for women at the time.
However, things didn’t work out for Modafferi as she was knocked out by champion Sarah Kaufman in the third round of their title bout on July 23, 2010. The loss set off a down swing in Modafferi’s career and signaled a changing of eras in MMA, something she had felt coming.
“MMA in Japan started slightly declining and then MMA in America started slightly taking off,” Modafferi said. “In America, people started doing more professional strength conditioning, better body care. Like, the MMA coach existed. There still wasn’t like an MMA coach in Japan.
“So, it started like doing this (shifting powers between Japan and America). Then Heroes and Dream (two MMA organizations) came into Japan; that took the place of Pride FC but not really. So then around 2010, it was really obvious. I started losing all my fights. I had like a massive five-fight losing streak. I was just fighting the top women, but like my training wasn’t sufficient, and I was plateauing. You could tell (there was a shift) because I was being brought back to (to fight in) the States.”
That five-fight losing streak wasn’t easy to endure. However, still a notable and experienced name in women’s MMA, she got the call to compete on Season 18 of “The Ultimate Fighter.” That season, which was coached by Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate, featured both female coaches and contestants for the first time in the show’s history. It was also the same year (2013) women first competed in the UFC.
Modafferi punched her ticket into the house by defeating Valerie Letourneau but went on to lose to finalist Jessica Rakoczy in the first round of the tournament.
As is the case with many “TUF” seasons, some fighters who fell short in the tournament were given a second chance to get into the UFC by being pitted against each other in the finale. For Modafferi, that meant taking on a tough Raquel Pennington in the opening bout of the main card at The Ultimate Fighter 18 Finale in Las Vegas on Nov. 30, 2013.
Modafferi lost her first official UFC fight by unanimous decision.
Coming to America
Roxanne Modafferi came up just short of winning a UFC title at the TUF 26 Finale.
It was hard to digest as Modafferi now found herself on a six-fight losing streak and out of a contract with her dream promotion. But on the bright side, the loss signaled to her that something needed to change, and she took that seriously.
As soon as TUF 18 came to an end, Modafferi packed her bags and moved back to the U.S. in hopes of reinventing her career. She decided to make a life in Las Vegas and settleed at Syndicate MMA. It was quite different than training in Japan.
“I experienced such a new, crazy way to train in America,” Modafferi said. “I went from doing 300 pushups as conditioning to like being on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ and seeing ice bathing, I didn’t know about that. And certain other conditioning things I didn’t know about. There was actually an MMA coach. Like, what? There was wrestling.”
With time, Modafferi’s move to the U.S. proved to be beneficial.
Now training like a pro athlete at one of the best MMA gyms in the country, Modafferi dropped down to flyweight and signed with Invicta FC. Her improved striking and athleticism put her back on her winning ways. She went 4-1 in her first five bouts and earned a shot at Jennifer Maia, who held the Invicta FC 125-pound title.
Although Modafferi lost a hard-fought split decision against the champion, she was a winner in many ways. She proved that she could catch up to the ever-evolving sport and hang with the best of them.
From there her story has been well documented.
She won twice more and caught the attention of the UFC for another go at “The Ultimate Fighter 26.” She made it to the final where she fought Nicco Montano for the inaugural UFC women’s flyweight title.
That night in late 2017, Modafferi failed to capture the UFC belt, coming up short in a unanimous decision. However, the crafty veteran did take home a $50,000 bonus for Fight of the Night and a UFC contract, which kicked off a four-year stint in the premiere MMA promotion on the planet.
‘I’m just so happy thinking about it’
At a quick glance, Modafferi’s MMA career might seem underwhelming, but take a deep dive, and you’ll see how impressive it is.
Modafferi fought for major titles in Strikeforce, Invicta FC and the UFC. She managed to stay among the top female fighters for almost 20 years in a sport that ruthlessly leaves athletes behind through its swift evolution. “The Happy Warrior” stood the test of time with positivity, persistence and self believe.
She also notched many notable wins in fights where she often was the betting underdog. Modafferi bested Andrea Lee, Maycee Barber, Antonina Shevchenko, Barb Honchak, Tara LaRosa, DeAnna Bennett, Coenen, Porto, and more.
Looking back at almost two decades of professional fighting, Modafferi is proud of what she was able to accomplish with the cards she was dealt. She lived the dream.
“My goal (was) basically get to the UFC, right?,” Modafferi said. “So I basically achieved my life goal because my life goal was never to be champion because that was not an option. But then when the opportunity presented itself, I was like, ‘Cool, let’s try it.’
“But I really achieved my life goal – fighting in the UFC. I fought like 11 times in the UFC. Like, it’s awesome. I’m just so happy thinking about it. I didn’t win all of them, but I did my best.”
All the UFC and Bellator fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie in the past week.
MMA fight announcements are hard to follow. With so many outlets and channels available, it’s nearly impossible to organize.
But here at MMA Junkie, we’ve got your back.
Each week, we’ll compile all the newly surfaced fights in one spot. Every Monday, expect a feature listing everything you might have missed from the UFC or Bellator.
Here are the fight announcements that were broken or confirmed by MMA Junkie from Nov. 1-7.
One of the true pioneers of women’s MMA has decided to hang up her gloves after one final fight – her 50th.
One of the true pioneers of women’s MMA has decided to hang up her gloves after one final fight – her 50th.
[autotag]Roxanne Modafferi[/autotag] (25-19 MMA, 4-7 UFC) on Thursday announced a women’s flyweight fight booking against [autotag]Casey O’Neill[/autotag] (8-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) for UFC 271. Modafferi made the announcement on her Instagram account, though the UFC has not yet made the matchup official.
UFC 271 takes place Feb. 12, but does not yet have an announced city or venue. The main card will air on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+. The placement of the Modafferi-O’Neill bout is not yet known.
Modafferi has 44 pro fights on her official record, but had another five bouts on two separate seasons of “The Ultimate Fighter,” which bring her unofficial tally to 49. And by her count, that will bring the overall number of fights, including the exhibition bouts on “TUF,” up to 50 when she steps in the cage with O’Neill.
The 39-year-old Modafferi, who startedd her career in 2003, has dropped three of her past four fights, all by decision. The Las Vegas-based jiu-jitsu standout hasn’t been finished in a fight since October 2011.
Modafferi alternated wins and losses for 10 straight fights before a second straight setback in September – a loss to Taila Santos at UFC 266. Prior to that, she was outpointed by Viviane Araujo in January on the heels of an upset win over Andrea Lee in September 2020. Modafferi’s most recent three wins, in fact, have been significant upsets against Lee, Maycee Barber and Antonina Shevchenko.
O’Neill, who has but a fraction of the pro experience of Modafferi, stayed perfect in October when she stopped Shevchenko with a second-round TKO. She debuted in the UFC earlier this year with a second-round TKO of Shana Dobson in February and followed that up with a third-round submission of Lara Procopio in June, which gave her four straight finishes overall.
With the addition, the UFC 271 lineup now includes:
Roxanne Modafferi will look to halt another rising contender’s momentum when she meets Casey O’Neill.
[autotag]Roxanne Modafferi[/autotag] will look to halt another rising contender’s momentum when she meets [autotag]Casey O’Neill[/autotag].
Modafferi (25-19 MMA, 4-6 UFC) faces O’Neill (8-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) at UFC 271 on Feb. 12 at a location yet to be announced. A person with knowledge of the situation confirmed the booking to MMA Junkie after an initial report by Instagram page MMA Ideas.
Modafferi, 39, has dropped three of her past five and is coming off back-to-back unanimous decision losses to Viviane Araujo and Taila Santos. The former title challenger’s two wins in that stretch came in a big upset win over Maycee Barber and Andrea Lee.
Unbeaten prospect O’Neill is 3-0 to kick off her UFC tenure, picking up three finishes in 2021. The 24-year-old scored her biggest win to date in October when she finished Antonina Shevchenko via second-round TKO for the “Performance of the Night” bonus.
With the addition, the UFC 271 lineup now includes:
The best facts and figures to come out of UFC 266, which saw Volkanovski and Shevchenko defend while Nick Diaz suffered a loss.
UFC 266 was a loaded lineup on paper and proved to be one of the best of the year in practice. The promotion put on a spectacular event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, with a main card that aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPNews and ESPN+.
Both champions at the top of the card retained their belts. [autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] (23-1 MMA, 10-0 UFC) defeated [autotag]Brian Ortega[/autotag] (15-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) by unanimous decision to defend the featherweight title in the headliner, while [autotag]Valentina Shevchenko[/autotag] (22-3 MMA, 11-2 UFC) produced a fourth-round TKO in the co-main event against [autotag]Lauren Murphy[/autotag] (15-5 MMA, 7-5 UFC) to retain her women’s flyweight strap.
For more on the numbers behind the decorated champions, as well as the winners and losers from the rest of the card, check below for 65 post-event facts to come out of UFC 266.
