Top 10 fighters meeting on prelims? Roxanne Modafferi excited for an early dinner

LAS VEGAS – While bout orders aren’t always an exact science, Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 11 has one fight that seems in a bit of an odd spot.

Roxanne Modafferi (24-16 MMA, 3-4 UFC) and Lauren Murphy (12-4 MMA, 4-4 UFC) face off in just the second fight of the night in a prelim that airs on ESPN and streams on ESPN+ from UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

According to the UFC’s own rankings, Modafferi sits at No. 6 in the women’s flyweight division, with Murphy checking in behind at No. 7, and the winner could very well be in discussion for an upcoming No. 1 contender bout. Yet two will meet at approximately 2:30 p.m. PT local time, some five hours before the night’s headliners enter the cage.

“I’ve gone back and forth on that,” Modafferi told MMA Junkie. “At first, when I heard about it, I was very surprised and I was disappointed, and then I thought, ‘It’s fine. Whatever. You’re still going to beat her, and you’re going to make your money. You’re going to rise in the ranks, and it doesn’t matter.’

“I’m not on any media day. I don’t have any interviews. I don’t really feel that important. But I’m kind of used to it. I’m not a super cute, young, up-and-comer star. I think I’m going to have a hard path back up to the title. Lauren’s probably about the same. We’re both veterans. I don’t know. I’m just going to operate in the UFC system and take what fights and cards that they offer me, and since I’m early, I’ll be able to get out early and go eat Mexican food with my team. Fiesta Mexicana, here I come.”

It’s the type of positivity you’d expect from Modafferi, the 17-year veteran known as “The Happy Warrior.” In fact, even that matchup, itself, was booked largely because she and Murphy have such respect for each other’s body of work, they asked to be paired together.

“As I looked at the top-10, five of them have missed weight, and I don’t do well with women that miss weight,” Modafferi said. “I’m not saying that I lost because they missed weight, but to be real, my only losses outside of the title fight were to women who missed weight. I beat everybody else.

“We’re ranked next to each other, so we’re both like, ‘Yeah, this seems good.’ Let’s do it. That’s how that came on.”

Modafferi looks to build on the strength of a decision win over formerly undefeated prospect Maycee Barber in January. The upset result caught plenty of attention at the time, but Modafferi said she doesn’t put too much stock in one performance.

“I think every win is huge at this point for me,” Modafferi said. “I don’t know. It’s very interesting how people’s perspectives are different. It felt like a good win, I’ll say that.”

It wasn’t the first time Modafferi has unseated a rising contender, having downed a then-undefeated Antonina Shevchenko in 2019. She’s been a bit of a “prospect killer” as of late, but Modafferi said she hasn’t made that a priority.

“I guess cool if I’m known like that,” Modafferi said. “That’s fine. I just want to keep winning and keep beating up other ladies in my division.”

To that end, Modafferi has used her time in isolation during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic to better herself as a martial artist. At 37, Modafferi appears to be physically in the best shape of her life, and she credits added strength training with Lorenzo Pavlica, wrestling sessions with Neil Melanson and Tywan Claxton and continued striking training with A.J. Matthews for her improvement during quarantine.

Now that Syndicate MMA is operational once again, Modafferi believes her work is all coming together under the watch of John Wood.

“I try to put on a strong front, but things are really crazy,” Modafferi said. “Up and down. Huge emotional rollercoaster all the time. I was super stressed. I wasn’t sure if I should leave the house, but man, I think it’s been one of the best times in my life, to be honest with you.

“I really got to focus 100 percent on myself. I feel like I really made strength gains, and I couldn’t wait to get back to Syndicate to try out all this new and improved stuff on my teammates, which finally happed, thank goodness. So part one of my training camp was basically in a garage and at the park. Then part two was Syndicate opened up again, and I got to back back in the cage and train with the team again.”

Modafferi will get to put her work to the test on Saturday. Is the fight scheduled where it should be on the night’s lineup? Perhaps not. But that doesn’t matter once the bell sounds.

Nearly two decades into her professional career, Modafferi believes she’s reached a new level and is anxious to prove it.

“I’ve always felt like just a martial artist who fights, but nowadays, people have become athletes,” Modafferi said. “UFC fighters are athletes. I finally feel like I’m not behind. Before, I felt behind. … Now I feel like I’ve caught up and can hold my own, so we’ll see. Maybe I’ll feel super strong in this fight. It will be cool. I’m excited to see what happens, actually.”