Tag: Roxanne Modafferi

Out with the old, in with the new? That’s what Maycee Barber is thinking ahead of UFC 246

Maycee Barber respects Roxanne Modafferi heading into UFC 246, but “she’s the older era of mixed martial arts … and I’m the future.”

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Maycee Barber[/autotag] is representing the new age of MMA.

On Saturday at UFC 246, Barber takes on [autotag]Roxanne Modafferi[/autotag], who’s 16 years older and made her professional debut when Barber was only 5 years old.

It’s a matchup between MMA’s new school and old school.

“She’s definitely a veteran in this sport, and I respect her so much for that,” Barber said. “I mean, she’s got more fights than I have like years on this earth. So, yeah, I’m super excited and honored to be able to fight her but also excited to show people that she’s the older era of mixed martial arts and of the UFC, and I’m the future.

“It’s like a fight that every era, every age of this sport can appreciate because you see the beginning, and you see someone who’s been in it for so long and has been around for so long. I think it’s exciting all the way around.”

It’s a big step up in competition for Barber (8-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) in terms of experience, but she will enter UFC 246 as the biggest betting favorite of the night.

No pressure for Barber, though.

“I’m not (feeling pressure). I’m just excited,” Barber said. “Again, this was one of the … I know that’s very stereotypical to say ‘this was the best camp of my life,’ but it really was. This is the best camp I’ve had, from coaches to training partners and just support. One of the best camps I’ve had in my entire life.”

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Barber spent camp at Roufusport, training with the likes of Ben Askren and former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis, who will share the same card as her, when he takes on Diego Ferreira in the main-card opener.

“To be able to be on the card with him (Pettis) and to see his work ethic in the gym, he’s kind of like that person that I can look up to, and it’s super motivating and just neat to be able to be around like-minded people. He’s a good fighter to look up to.”

With about 28 months left for Barber to break Jon Jones’ record as the youngest UFC champion in history, Saturday is a pivotal step for the surging and undefeated flyweight.

“I think it’s a perfect fight,” Barber said. “She’s ranked, I’m ranked, and she’s ranked just a little bit ahead of me, so it’s a perfect challenge for me to go out and put her away and get another one.”

UFC 246 takes place Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.

To hear more from Barber, watch the video above.

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Roxanne Modafferi on UFC 246 fight with Maycee Barber: ‘I’ll derail her hype train’

Seasoned veteran Roxanne Modafferi plans to derail Maycee Barber’s “hype train” at UFC 246. But she plans to do so “nicely.”

LAS VEGAS – [autotag]Roxanne Modafferi[/autotag] will attempt something never done before at Saturday’s UFC 246.

The former Invicta FC and UFC title challenger takes on young, rising contender Maycee Barber during the preliminary card of the first UFC pay-per-view event of the year, which is headlined by a welterweight matchup between Conor McGregor and Donald Cerrone.

The 21-year-old Barber has yet to taste defeat in her professional MMA career, and she’s picked up TKO victories in all three of her UFC bouts. “The Future” is certainly one of the biggest storms brewing at 125 pounds, and rightfully so, Barber has caught the attention of many.

Modafferi (23-16 MMA, 2-4 UFC) says she’s all-in for being part of this kind of matchup.

“That’s really what I need,” Modafferi said. “Let’s be honest, I’m not exactly scary. I mean, I have a lot of experience, but you know, I’m not frightening, so these people like Antonina Shevchenko, Maycee Barber, who kind of explode on the scene and TKO people, people watch them. So I’m glad to have that kind of opponent so I can get a little notice, too.”

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Apart from being in a high-profile bout that holds plenty of fan interest, Modafferi is just happy to be getting a new look in the octagon. The Syndicate MMA product has 39 fights under her belt and has competed professionally since since 2003. She’s basically seen it all, and sometimes more than once.

“I’m just excited to fight somebody new; I’ve rematched so many people, I’m glad I’m not rematching anybody,” Modafferi said. “I think Maycee is a good fight for me. She has a lot of hype behind her, so therefore I’m kind of getting a little hype. So yeah, I have a lot of techniques to show, so that’s really more of my motivation, showing my skills.”

Modafferi respects Barber’s skillset and quick rise and insists she’s not taking her lightly entering UFC 246. Yet, Modafferi has a job to do on Saturday night, and she intends to hand Barber her first professional defeat, “The Happy Warrior” way.

“I’m thinking that they want her to climb the ranks and fight somebody in the top 10, and I’m somebody in the top 10 to fight,” Modafferi said. “I’m coming off a loss, but that’s fine, that’s cool. I’ll derail her hype train, nicely.”

UFC 246 takes place Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.

To hear more from Modafferi, watch the video above.

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Roxanne Modafferi explains decision to message Maycee Barber with hotel-bathtub warning ahead of UFC 246

Roxanne Modafferi explains her decision to direct message opponent Maycee Barber and warn her about a hotel concern ahead of UFC 246.

[autotag]Maycee Barber[/autotag]’s most recent Instagram post made the rounds in the MMA community – and it wasn’t another callout of Paige VanZant.

“The Future” posted a screenshot of a direct message she received on Thursday afternoon, and it was from none other than [autotag]Roxanne Modafferi[/autotag], who will be standing across from Barber in the octagon on Jan. 18 at UFC 246 in Las Vegas.

Modafferi (23-16 MMA, 2-4 UFC) wrote a thoughtful note warning Barber (8-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) that some of the rooms in next week’s host hotel aren’t equipped with bathtubs, which are needed in many fighters’ preferred method of cutting weight.

Even in the trash-talking era of today’s MMA, it’s not uncommon for fighters to be friendly towards each other in the buildup to a fight, but helping and advising each other is certainly not seen often enough.

Speaking with MMA Junkie, Modafferi was unaware of Barber publicly posting her direct message but said she was glad to hear her opponent got the heads up.

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“Oh, good, because I messaged her, and I wasn’t sure if she’d see it because if you’re not following somebody, it goes to the other inbox,” Modafferi said. “So, what happened is that we were in the locker room, and we met at the UFC Performance Institute, and we were chatting and we talked about cutting weight. We both like cutting weight in the bathtub as opposed to a sauna or whatever, so I said to her, ‘I hope the hotel has a bathtub,’ and she said, ‘Yeah, I really hope so,’ et cetera.

“So I decided to call ahead and called the hotel and asked, ‘Hey, does the hotel have a bathtub?’ and they said no, so I thought, ‘Well, if she’s going to count on that, and we’re supposed to make weight for this fight,’ so I let her know. It’s just courtesy to a fellow fighter. You might want to make other plans, so I think the UFC is going to work it all out and hopefully they get us different rooms, but yeah.”

When asked why she would lend a hand to her opponent, Modafferi’s answer was simple and one you might expect from someone known as “The Happy Warrior.”

“Well, first of all, I like her,” Modafferi explained. “I’ve ran into her a few times, and she only talks about working hard, and I like that. She never talked bad about me, too, and also I really want her to make weight because I’ve had bad luck against opponents who’ve missed weight before. So it’s not really a selfish reason I contacted her, but I want her to be healthy, make weight, and we both make weight and have a good fight, throw down and I’m going to win. But I want her to be healthy.”

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UFC 246’s 13-bout lineup finalized with Conor McGregor vs. Donald Cerrone headliner

Check out the finalized lineup and broadcast plans for UFC 246, which takes place Jan. 18 in Las Vegas.

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The UFC will kick off 2020 with the long-awaited return of arguably its most bankable fighter.

UFC 246 takes place Jan. 18 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.

The main event features a welterweight bout between former dual-division champion [autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] (21-4 MMA, 9-2 UFC) and former lightweight title challenger [autotag]Donald Cerrone[/autotag] (36-13 MMA, 23-10 UFC).

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In the co-main event, former UFC women’s bantamweight champion [autotag]Holly Holm[/autotag] (12-5 MMA, 5-5 UFC) will take on [autotag]Raquel Pennington[/autotag] (10-7 MMA, 7-4 UFC) in a rematch from a 2015 bout in which Holm edged out Pennington in her UFC debut. The rematch originally was scheduled to take place at UFC 243 in October, but Holm was forced out due to a hamstring injury.

Also on the card is former UFC lightweight champ [autotag]Anthony Pettis[/autotag], Dana White’s Contender Series standouts [autotag]Maycee Barber[/autotag] and [autotag]Sodiq Yusuff[/autotag], and more.

The full UFC 246 lineup includes:

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)

  • Conor McGregor vs. Donald Cerrone
  • Holly Holm vs. Raquel Pennington
  • [autotag]Maurice Greene[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Aleksei Oleinik[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Claudia Gadelha[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Alexa Grasso[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Diego Ferreira[/autotag] vs. Anthony Pettis

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN, 8 p.m. ET)

  • Maycee Barber vs. [autotag]Roxanne Modafferi[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Andre Fili[/autotag] vs. Sodiq Yusuff
  • [autotag]Drew Dober[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Nasrat Haqparast[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Grant Dawson[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Chas Skelly[/autotag]

PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 6:15 p.m. ET)

  • [autotag]Aleksa Camur[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Justin Ledet[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Askar Askarov[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Tim Elliott[/autotag]
  • [autotag]Brian Kelleher[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Ode Osbourne[/autotag]
  • [autotag]J.J. Aldrich[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Sabina Mazo[/autotag]

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Maycee Barber: Paige VanZant turned me down, but Roxanne Modafferi way better anyway

“My career will be successful no matter what, if I beat her up or not.”

[autotag]Maycee Barber[/autotag] wanted to fight [autotag]Paige VanZant[/autotag].

According to Barber, however, the same can’t be said the other way around. After multiple callouts of VanZant, Barber is set to take on [autotag]Roxanne Modafferi[/autotag] at UFC 246 on Jan. 18.

In an interview with Submission Radio, Barber (8-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) revealed the fight was offered to VanZant (8-4 MMA, 5-3 UFC), who turned it down. Barber claims VanZant wants to fight at 115 pounds and needs more time to prepare.

“They offered it to Paige at 125, (and) she said no,” Barber said. “From what I heard, she said she wanted a fight at 115, but she would need more time. So, as far as I know, it’s offered to her at 125 when she wants to take the fight at 125. And other than that, it’s kind of like, I’m just gonna keep doing what I do with my career, and when she decides to fight, we’ll fight.”

Is Barber disappointed she won’t be facing VanZant? Not really. Barber said VanZant would just be an added “bonus” to her resume of work.

“My career will be successful no matter what, if I beat her up or not,” Barber said. “That was kind of like a bonus – like, beat her up and prove a point. But that’s it.”

Additionally, Barber compared VanZant and Modafferi (23-16 MMA, 2-4 UFC). She said she views Modafferi as a more challenging matchup and criticized VanZant’s evolution (or lack thereof) as a fighter.

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“Roxanne is way better of a fighter than Paige VanZant,” Barber said. “And there’s a lot of women out there who are a tougher fight. Paige VanZant just did the marketing well, and that was because the UFC got behind her on that.

“But like I’ve said multiple times, she didn’t hold up her end of the deal and she didn’t continue to progress as a fighter, she just continued to progress on the more marketing and media side of that. So, yeah, there’s a lot more girls that had been working there their butts off a lot more than Paige has.”

Barber’s tune when speaking on VanZant compared to Modafferi was night and day. Barber voiced her respect for one of the most experienced fighters in the history of women’s MMA. She sees the fight as a passing of the guard, of sorts.

“(Roxanne’s) been there so long within the sport,” Barber said. “She has so many fights. She has like 39 fights. And I don’t know if that includes her amateur career or not. She’s been around for a lot of fights and through a lot of the women in MMA. So, it’s really a very historic fight for us. Because we’re taking someone who has pretty much gone and done and seen it all, and then you have someone who’s been working their whole life just to be where they are right now.

“And I’m super young and super new in my career. So you kind of have the new and the old, and I think people are gonna be shocked. They expect, like, oh, you’re fighting her and she’s got so much experience over you. But what they don’t realize is that I’ve been working my whole life, and I’m 21, but that’s like 17 years of work that I’ve put into this.”

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Maycee Barber vs. Roxanne Modafferi in the works for UFC 246 on Jan. 18

In a matchup that will touch all generations of women’s MMA, Maycee Barber will meet Roxanne Modafferi at UFC 246.

In a matchup that will touch all generations of women’s MMA, unbeaten rising star [autotag]Maycee Barber[/autotag] will meet veteran former title challenger [autotag]Roxanne Modafferi[/autotag].

The women’s flyweight bout will take place at UFC 246, according to two people familiar with the booking but not authorized to discuss it publicly. Both Barber (8-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) and Modafferi (23-16 MMA, 2-4 UFC) have verbally agreed for the event slated for Jan. 18.

Barber, No. 13 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie MMA women’s flyweight rankings, has put together three consecutive knockout victories since making her UFC debut in November 2018. “The Future” has set the goal of becoming the youngest champion in UFC history and, at 21, has less than two years to break Jon Jones’ record.

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She’ll get a big step up in competition against No. 7 Modafferi, who made her MMA debut in 2003 and will compete in her 40th professional bout at UFC 246. The 37-year-old has alternated wins and losses in five fights since returning to the UFC for a second stint in December 2017.

UFC 246 doesn’t have a location but will air on pay-per-view following prelims likely on ESPN and ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass.

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The latest UFC 246 lineup now includes:

  • Drew Dober vs. Nasrat Haqparast
  • Grant Dawson vs. Chas Skelly
  • Maycee Barber vs. Roxanne Modafferi