Roxanne Modafferi: 'Rosi Should Expect Ninjaness' At CWFC 40

By Chris Shanks

Roxanne Modafferi (15-6) is one of the top female mixed martial artists in the world. On February 26th, in front on an audience at the HMV Forum, London, she will meet Rosi 'The Surgeon' Sexton (11-2) at Cage Warriors 40. BritMMA.co.uk had the chance to talk to Roxanne, who is currently training for the fight in Japan. This will be Roxanne's first trip to England, and she is looking forward to fighting in the UK.

“I am very excited to see everything," she beamed. "I have never been to England before. I love travelling as part of fighting. You get to see a lot of new places and that's great.”

Roxanne is evidently a big fan of travelling, now living and training in Japan. I was curious to know how she ended up half way across the world from the States.

“Right after college, I graduated and straight away moved to Japan," she revealed. "I moved there to become a teacher and work on my Japanese Language skills because it was something that I had done in college. Now I am an English teacher and I spend the rest of my time training, so it is like having two full time jobs.”

Roxanne first got introduced to MMA in the States though.
 
“I did train MMA before the “MMA boom” I watched The Ultimate Fighter season one when it first came out and that inspired me to want to test my skills in the ring or cage. When I was in the states I practised in Judo, Jiu Jitsu and a little MMA through high school and college.”

Moving on to her opponent Rosi Sexton, it is clear that Roxanne is not taking this fight lightly but she kept her game plan closely guarded.

“I know that she likes armbars," analysed Modafferi. "She is a good wrestler and it is clear that she likes to grapple. She seems to put a lot of pressure on her opponents and impose her own game plan. This is going to help me because I like to fight in just that style. It should be an up and down fight.”

When Roxanne was asked about her weaknesses, she laughed and simply said,

“I want to be an all round fighter, I want to strengthen my weaknesses and sharpen my strengths. Other than that, I don't want to go into specifics.”

I pushed Roxanne for an insight into her game plan, but she was not for budging and in response she said,

“I like triangles,” with a laugh to follow.

Roxanne did reveal that she has been in contact with Rosi, by way of her chat room and during that time she told her opponent that she was working on 'super secret ninja moves.”

She wouldn't tell what these moves consisted of, saying, "A Ninja should never reveal her secrets.”

Cage Warriors, as has been said many times before is a promotion with a lot of history. Fighters like Dan Hardy and Michael Bisping went on to bigger and better things after fighting on Cage Warriors, and Roxanne is more than happy to be fighting for the organisation.

“I recognise that Cage Warriors is the biggest promotion in the UK and it's a great honour to be called up by them to fight on their show," enthused Roxanne. "As far as how it will affect my career, I tend not to think of the consequences of my fights. It adds more pressure and makes me nervous. I'll just concentrate on getting the win and then we will consider the fallout after that.”

Finally I asked Roxanne, if she could sum up in a few words what Sexton should expect come fight night, what would they be.

“Rosi should expect Ninjaness,” she responded.

For more information on Cage Warriors 40, which Modafferi vs. Sexton will headline, please visit http://www.cagewarriors.com.