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

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

Maycee Barber’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 Roxanne Modafferi, 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.

“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.”

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