Despite loss, Roxanne Modafferi happy with performance in UFC 271 retirement bout

HOUSTON – Roxanne Modafferi 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.”

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.