Roxanne Modafferi is an MMA animal. She was the NAGA fighter of the year for 2002, placed third in the Smack Girl World Remix Tournament in 2004 and was a competitor in Abu Dhabi, the largest grappling tournament in the world, in 2005. Modafferi is the only fighter to have defeated Jennifer Howe (which she did not once, but twice), ending Howe’s 11-0 winning streak and taking her IFC Women’s MiddleWeight belt by triangle choke in the third round of her rematch in March 2005.

On February 17th of this year, Roxy won a battle against Cassandra Rivers-Blaso in Los Angeles at Fatal Femmes Fighting, earning the lightweight belt in what was the first all-women's cage-fighting event in the world. She has eight wins and three losses and currently trains at Wajitsu Keishukai Honbu in Tokyo, where she teaches English for Berlitz. She also writes an excellent column for BoutReview.

Video: Modaferri vs. Howe Round 1
Video: Modaferri Vs. How Round 2 & 3
Video: Rematch with Megumi Yabushita

When and why did you decide to start fighting?

I'd started doing Tae Kwon Do when I was thirteen because I thought it was cool to beat up the bad guys like the Power Rangers. I did that for about three years. After that phase passed, I started getting into the more spiritual 'art-form' aspect of it, and tried out Kempo Karate for a year and a half, Uechi Ryu for a mere two months, and finally Judo for about three years during high school. I'd done some kickboxing in my Kempo class, but Judo was truly the sport competition aspect of martial arts, and I entered dozens of competitions across New England as a test of my skills. I've always been competitive in sports. After I graduated from high school, I found a Royce Gracie Brazilian Jiu-jitsu association in Adams, Mass, and when moving to college, couldn't find a dojo conveniently near my University, The University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Luckily, Kirik Jenness, the master behind mixedmartialarts.com (and mma.tv—The Underground), ran an MMA/submission grappling school in Amherst, so I graduated to MMA. Now, I fight MMA, the ultimate test, to grow stronger. Plus, it's fun.

I have to say that Karate was fun, but didn't prepare me for MMA. Jeremy's School of Self Defense in Massachusetts, where I took kickboxing, really raised my level, as well as kickboxing at Cross Point Kichijouji in Japan. All last year Dio Uesugi gave me private boxing lessons, and just started going to Ranger Boxing Gym. Unfortunately, the latter is over an hour and a half from my home.



Where are you training now? What are you focusing on?

I'm training at Wajitsu Keishukai Tokyo Honbu, known for producing killer grapplers
and MMA fighters with sick ground games. I'd like to think my grappling is improving. I'm trying to focus on submissions and finishing the fight, plus improve my all around game and stand up.

What does your training look like?

Our gym is run by Ryusuke Moriyama, but every week one of the pro-fighters teaches class. Some like drilling, most don't. On the other hand, I'm exposed to fun.

I arrive at Wajitsu Keishukai Headquarters in Ocha no Mizu around 7:00 PM, after an hour and fifteen minute commute. Around 7:15 we do basic stretching together in

a circle for five minutes or so. The basic bend over the leg, stretch the neck, arms, etc. Then, leg circles, bicycle kicks, and lots of Indian-push-ups.

Following that, we do break-falls and rolls for the next ten to fifteen minutes. Everyone gets in two lines and does somersaults down the mat, followed by backward rolls, standing on hands, rolling backwards, cartwheels, forward (judo-style) rolls, shrimping front back and side, and finally front drags.

After that, we get into partners and do the airplane, where I balance my partner above me, with my hands under their arms and my feet hooking inside their thighs. I use their body weight to do chest presses (also using legs). We do that 30 to 50 times, depending on who's teaching, followed by negumo, which I don't know the English for. One partner kneels on all fours (in the turtle position) and the other person sits on the back. Then, the other person practices sliding under them, and climbing back onto their back, as if they were taking someone's back in a fight to get a rear choke. They go around in the same direction like 5 times and then reverse.

Sometimes we do standing negumo, which is harder. One person has to stand up, and the partner jumps onto their back. Without touching the ground, the partner clinging has to climb under their arms, and around to their front, doing a full rotation three times.

After warm-ups, the pro teaching class shows a few techniques and we drill them for about forty five minutes. At about 8:30, the technique class ends and sparring begins. Off to the side, the pro fighters who'd been hanging around stretching jump in and do a quick version of our break-fall warm-up, and then begin to spar. We do this until ten or ten thirty.



How often do you train?

I train at the dojo four days a week. Sundays and Thursdays I take the technique class followed by sparring, Saturdays are just free sparring days, and Mondays are the pro days where people spar a lot but with higher intensity.

On the days I don't go to the dojo, I usually run up and down flights of stairs at my office—sometimes just on my way to work, or sometimes I make a special trip to the office to do that. I also go to Gold's Gym to lift weights, do cardio and hit the heavy bag. Usually I make it once a week to the gym unless I'm too injured to go to the dojo, in which case, I try to go to the gym every day.

Any good conditioning drills you use?

I have pretty good stamina, so I don't focus on conditioning especially. If I do, I just get exhausted and can't function in normal life (I work almost every day), or I can't do technique classes. I find the normal sparring days are enough, plus it works my cardio to run up and down the flights of stairs and do jump-roping at the gym. Before competitions, Dio, my boxing coach, has me hit the pads a lot until I get tired.

Do you ever really relax on training or are you always in shape and close to competition level?

I only relax when I work myself to sickness. It's a problem, actually, that I can't relax. I have a full time teaching job, plus training, and I'm trying to write a book.

How do you start out preparing for a fight?

In preparing for a competition, I try to train as hard as I can without getting injured, as I have a nasty habit of doing. I try to run stairs more, do a lot of sprawls, focus on boxing and stand up technique. I also spar with Takayo Hashi as much as possible. She is an incredibly powerful woman in the dojo who is like me in almost every aspect of size, skill and dedication, except that her power level is off the charts.

Do you have to cut a lot to make weight before a fight?

I used to have to cut five pounds (of fat, not just water) for competition, and if I don't have a fight for a long time, I inevitably gain weight. Once there's a signed deal, though, I have no problem getting down to the weight in advance as long as I have about a month, and I can maintain that weight. Nowadays, I find myself on the lower end of the 135 weight limit, and my opponents are cutting down to fight me.



What was your toughest fight?

My toughest fight was either Tara LaRosa or Laura D'Auguste. My brain wouldn't switch gears enough during the fight, and I got dominated trying the same strategy. I was so bent on trying out striking that I didn't go for take downs when I should have. Actually, for Tara I should have stopped my failed boxing attempts and gone for more take downs. For Laura, striking was actually working, and I saw it, but for some reason, I couldn't push my advantage. It's hard to say because there's really no single thing I did wrong, and it's hard to analyze your own fight.

Who would you like to fight?

A lot of people. Everyone. Namely, Laura D'Auguste again, Tara Larosa again, Shayna Baszler, Tama-chan, and Hitomi Akano. Anyone and everyone in my weight class, actually. I might even be able to go down a weight class to 58 kilo, but I think I want to stick with 60 kilo for now. I'm going to be the best female fighter at 60 kilos!

What are your strengths and weaknesses?

I get hurt a lot in training. My strengths are my energy and my ability to get a lot done. I need to find more time to sleep, though. I have a strong drive, which also works against me in the fact that it doesn't let me rest. I apply my internal drive, or 'itch' to be productive to my training and life. It's taken me far!

My strength in fighting is my grappling, MMA, and ground and pound. It's fun. Maybe I get that from my training experiences at Kirik's New England Submission Fighting, where Dave Roy would get in my guard, suddenly pop me in the head, say "Ha ha!" cover up so I couldn't hit him, then bonk me again, say "Gotcha!" and then guard again.

What have you learned from fighting that has helped you outside of the ring?

The main thing I've learned is that even if you get knocked down, you're not defeated if you get back up. You have to push and work hard to get what you want. I developed a lot of self confidence that has helped me in my teaching job. I feel like I can handle any problems.

I remember when I first started teaching children at work. Usually we teach adults, and I didn't have as much training with children as I would have liked, and couldn't handle them effectively in the beginning. I was in tears before going into the classroom of a particularly difficult class. Then came one particularly hard boxing class with Dio, where I limped home with a horrible headache, feeling like I'd been hit by a truck. The next day when I had to teach a kid's class, I thought, "Nothing could be harder than that boxing class!" and it was a piece of cake. My confidence in teaching kids shot from like 2 to 7 overnight.



Tell us more about your boxing coach!

Dio held me to a really high level. In one way it was good because it pushed me to grow stronger, but being a beginner, I couldn't physically move the way he demanded in training, and I felt frustrated. He taught me the basics of boxing and how to defend myself. I owe him a lot—always met my schedule, wrote lesson plans, and cared a lot about me and my progress. Classes with him were always challenging and I always learned something new. He'd also fought MMA, so he knew what I needed.

What do you think are the biggest challenges for women fighting?

I think the biggest challenge for women is two-fold. One is to find the chance to get out into MMA market, compete and be taken seriously. In the past, the general public saw women fighting as cat fights, just for looks and fun. Now it's different, and it's our job to educate them that cat fights are no longer "in".

The second biggest challenge is training. If you find the right place, men are willing
to train women if they're serious, but some places have guys who don't want to hit a girl. That sucks. The guys who are hesitant to hit girls are usually the ones who only train for fun in the normal classes. The pro fighters, at my WK dojo, for example, usually have no problem. Size of training partners makes a difference, too. If you are a 115 pound girl and everyone at your gym is 180 pounds and up, it makes for rough nights of training. I went through that and now enjoy technical sparring sessions with the best 160 pound grapplers in Japan (Tetsu Suzuki, for example. He fought in Abu Dhabi 2004).

What are your own biggest challenges?

My biggest challenges are improving at boxing, because I don't really like it, but I know I need to practice it anyway. I also get injured a lot, so I'm always struggling with feelings of desperation, frustration at being surpassed by my female peers, and anger at my own body for being weak and not allowing me to train and do what I love.

Who do you admire in women's MMA and why?

I admire Megumi Fuji, for one. Her skill level is higher than most men I've seen. She is super friendly and works really hard; she’s always works on training and getting better. I also admire my teammate Takayo Hashi. I want to be as strong as her. All the male fighters at my dojo respect her as they would a guy, and never go easy on her whatsoever. She almost knocked me out in practice—something which had never happened, even in my competition.

Any tips for women who are just getting started in MMA or other combat sports?

Yes, have your favorite style and enjoy practicing it! But know that you have to cross-train these days in order to have a chance to hang with the pros. Training for a fight should suck if it's done right. However, it's important to keep the fun in mind or it becomes unappealing to train. You gotta love it! You gotta hunger for it! But you also gotta love the pain!

What do you see as the future of women's MMA?

I see it growing. Even organizations that are hesitant to host women’s fighting, such as the UFC, I think will come around to make money. I think they'll see the financial opportunities in that more and more people want to see women's fighting as a sport and part of mainstream MMA, and not just two chicks in tight clothes hitting each other.

What are the biggest differences between fighting internationally and fighting in the states?

If the organization is bigger, things are better planned and more professional. This is the same anywhere. American fans scream louder, though. The Japanese seem more respectful but also have a flashy element influenced by pro-wrestling and wanting to entertain the crowd, where the Americans want to be all rough and tough. I know the Japanese, especially people from my dojo, love to dress up like anime characters, and even wear costumes shaped like vegetables and mayonnaise bottles!

What kind of work do you do in Japan?

My job teaching English at Berlitz, Japan, is great. I do need to do some lesson preparation, but the lesson plans are basically set. An experienced Berlitz teacher can run in at the last minute, glance at where the student left off, and just start teaching from the book. Kid's classes always warrant more preparation time, but again, the lessons are already written for us. Even that being the case, it's not easy. Sometimes the lessons suck, so I want to do something different.

You have to know psychology, the best way of teaching to keep a student from being frustrated when they can't communicate, and also be able to explain grammar to a student using English only. That's the main Berlitz rule: No Japanese! I made it a chant in one of my kid's class when they were talking too much. "No Japanese! No Japanese!" and now the kid's yell it at each other when one of them starts speaking in Japanese. Also, I taught the kids to raise their hands and shut up when I yelled, "Silence!" I started this "game" when they got unruly and stopped listening. Whoever raised their hand and shut up first got a point. I tallied the points, and at the end of class, gave them an extra sticker. I stopped doing the sticker thing, but I don't think they noticed. Hahaha.

If you recall, I had said I was 'scared' of teaching kids. Now, I'm really into it (to a degree. I have my favorite classes.) For example, one day, I said, "In the word 'write,' the 'w' is silent." They heard 'silent' and all screamed "SILENCE!" Four sets of hands shot up in the air, and they looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to give them points.

I was shocked into silence (pun pun). Pretty funny stuff! I love a few kids’ classes the most, but in general I like teaching adults better. At least they don't stop paying attention if I don't play with them.

What are your plans for your post-fight career?

My plans for a post-fight career are to open my own dojo, write a lot of novels (I like fantasy novels), and translate. This is when I'm old, mind you.