Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
UFC 246 was a night of many firsts for Roxanne Modafferi, including getting a taste of what Vampires have raved about for centuries.
Vampires have been raving about the decadence of human blood for centuries, but Roxanne Modafferi could have done without a sample from Maycee Barber at UFC 246.
Modafferi (24-16) caught up with Bloody Elbow (appropriate) following her win over Barber (8-1). “The Happy Warrior” took fans through her journey at UFC 246 in this op-ed and revealed she got a splash of Barber’s blood in her mouth.
“Very warm and juicy. I spit it out,” she said in a new interview when describing the taste. “I’ve gotten blood on my arms before in a fight, but I’ve never before in any fight had it drip onto my face and into my mouth before. That was my first experience for a lot of things in that fight. I was distracted for about five seconds spitting it out to the side.
“Another first experience was having somebody cry out in pain while we’re fighting. Knowing that she was injured as opposed to just bruised or hit. Knowing that there was some sort of serious ligament damage. It never occurred to me to go easy on her, but it was kind of bizarre,” she continued. “Another one was when they paused the fight to check on her. I had feelings like, ‘they’re going to stop it? Great. I want the win. Oh no, I don’t want them to stop it, but I want to win.’ I had this 10-second internal struggle just with what I wanted to happen. I’ve never had that before in the middle of the fight.”
Modafferi, 37, put a stop — temporary or otherwise — to the 21-year-old’s plans to be the youngest UFC champion of all-time.
“Addressing the goal to be the youngest champion, that’s great. I have goals to. I wanted to be the first woman in the UFC but that didn’t happen,” she said. “It’s nice to have goals, but I don’t really care about other people’s goals to be frank.”
Barber’s father asserted that Modafferi only won because of the knee injury. That is something UFC flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko disputed in an interview with theScore. Shevchenko is confident Modafferi would have won regardless.
“It was really nice to have Valentina give me some credit,” Modafferi said. “I try not to care what other people think. I think I would have won also even if she hadn’t hurt her knee. I think the fans also believe I was doing fine and would have won anyway. So I was happy about that and Valentina put an extra stamp on the conversation.”
Modafferi has been fighting professionally since 2003. Her record may not inspire on the surface, but she has quality wins over Andrea Lee, Barb Honchak and Antonina Shevchenko. She has been fighting the perception that she is a “journeywoman” for a long time, and she says that perception has begun to change following her win over Barber.
“Yeah, I do feel a very warm reaction,” Modafferi shared. “People are giving me a lot of credit, noticing I have improved, noticing my physique is getting more athletic. I’ve always struggled with that.”
Modafferi is currently ranked number five in the UFC flyweight division.
Timestamps are below for the video above.
0:19 – Was UFC 246 the most visible win of Roxanne Modafferi’s career?
0:45 – What Maycee Barber’s blood tastes like
1:30 – Staying focused in the heat of a fight
2:07 – First experiences in Barber fight
3:07 – How to keep emotions in check during a fight?
4:49 – Valentina Shevchenko’s support for Modafferi
5:26 – Getting respect after UFC 246
6:57 – What Modafferi wants next
7:54 – Frustrations with opponents missing weight
8:57 – The weight cutting debate for women
10:00 – Celebrating post-fight