Roxanne Modafferi interview

Some MMA fighters experience a career turnaround following a losing streak, and Roxanne Modafferi's resurgence was one of the most impressive to date. She once had a six-fight losing streak, and as I watched her fight for Valkyrie and Jewels, I worried along with other people about the coaching and training that she was receiving. Following a move to the United States, Modafferi drastically changed her MMA career after a stint on TUF 18 that included a submission win over Valerie Letourneau, who will challenge Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 193. Since signing with Invicta FC, Modafferi has shown rapid improvement in the striking department.

While asking her questions, I thought about the language barrier that she endured when learning MMA techniques in Japan. When explaining the nuances of a technique, coaches often use slang or abbreviations, which can be difficult to understand for people from other countries (I feel this often, too).

I believe that Modafferi's knowledge of Japanese is better than 95% of foreign Japanese learners, but she still admits to a language barrier and that says a lot about the difficulties of learning MMA techniques in a second language.

This is an interview with an MMA fighter who has trained in two countries and knows the difficulties of cultural differences. She has persevered through these struggles on the path to the happiest day in her career.


When you began your career in Japan, there were no stable MMA organizations that could provide consistent fights for women outside of Japan. Many western female MMA fighters could not find enough fights in the early era and either retired or stayed in the sport for many years and fought way past their prime. You have had a long career and, after a tough losing streak, you seem to have now entered the prime of your career. How do you feel about the course of your career and how did you make it through the difficult situations?

I feel that my career has been exciting and full of adventures.  I trained very hard every night while working during the day. In the beginning, it was enough. Then MMA continued to evolve as a sport and my working full-time plus training became too much. I also had a hard time learning how to strike.  I love grappling but struggled for a long time to do kickboxing effectively. I started on a losing streak. That changed once I decided to move back to America to fight full time, and I joined the gym Syndicate MMA in Vegas. I can't say that I regret moving back sooner because I loved my life in Japan. I'm still fighting and climbing my way to the top!


While you were still in Japan, which fighter impressed you the most? Was it someone you fought or just someone who taught you something important?

When I was living in Japan, I looked up to K-Taro Nakamura because he could take everybody's back and choke them out. I eventually bought his book on RNC. He used to teach at Keishukai every Saturday. I learned the single leg back control from him.


During your TUF 18 elimination fight against Valerie Letourneau, you took her back and finished her with a rear-naked choke. I got the impression that what you learned at Wajyutsu Keishukai worked during the turning point in your career (taking the back and finishing with a rear-naked choke is a common move at that gym). Is that a technique that you learned from Wajyutsu Keishukai? If not, who taught you that move?

It's true that I loved doing rear naked choke at Keishukai. However, I learned the move years ago way before moving to Japan so I forget who actually originally taught me.


You have shown rapid improvement in your striking since joining Syndicate MMA. You control distance, use a variety of combinations and have great elbow attacks now. How has John Wood taught you these things and what convinced you to accept his teachings?

I'm an "audio" learner rather than visual, so that means I need someone to explain details of techniques to me, not just show me, or I can't understand. In Japanese, that was really difficult. Even though I did private mitt sessions with a trainer, I don't feel I advanced a lot. Syndicate owner and Coach John Wood has the ability to really explain striking to me and "train me" through repetition so I can understand. Knowing my learning style, I tried out his gym for a week, decided that he was the guy I could entrust with my new hope for my career. I said to him, not "I'd like to join your gym," but rather, "Will you be my coach?" Starting the next week, I've done extra mitt sessions every week for the last two years in addition to the well-run MMA classes. That's how I was able to improve so much.


UFC does not currently have a 125-pound division. They only have 135 and 115. How do you feel about your division's absence in the UFC? Do you feel that Zuffa should add a 125 division?

I'm sad my weight class is not in the UFC. I hope it is soon.


Invicta FC does have a 125-pound division and DEEP Jewels has also recently created that weight class as well. Of course, you want to challenge Invicta FC champion Barb Honchak, but how would you evaluate the DEEP Jewels 125-pound division? Did you watch champion Ji Yeon Kim's fight? Please provide your impression of her if so.

I haven't been able to easily watch Deep Jewels since I moved back to the U.S.  I haven't seen Ji Yeon Kim. I remember last year seeing a few fights and being disappointed in some technique. That was due to my new perspective - I recognized a bunch of techniques the fighters didn't do that I had just learned at Syndicate. I found myself thinking, "if only they could train with me at Syndicate!" I think JMMA has been surpassed in certain ways.


You are known for your hobbies: Anime, Manga, gaming, movies, music and so on. What are some of the current "hot things" in your hobbies?

I've been trying to catch up on old anime that I've fallen behind in, like One Piece and Naruto and DBZ Kai. I've gotten into new ones like Attack on Titan. I'm SO excited that I can see the live-action movie during my Japan visit! I also try to study Japanese in my free time. Thanks to Skyping with my friend Goto-san and him correcting my Japanese blogs, I haven't lost my language skills.


Your nickname is Happy Warrior. What makes you the happiest? Fighting itself, conversations with coaches and training partners, interacting with fans, everyday life or something else?

I try and look at everything in a positive light, and I try and find the good things about every situation. I appreciate everything. Talking to people makes me happy, training and challenging myself makes me happy, seeing other people smile makes me happy!


Please share a message for your fans about your fighting career and future.

You may not realize it, but as my fans, you play a big part in my motivation and happiness. When you cheer for me, or send me an email or Tweet or Facebook message of encouragement, it inspires me to try harder if I'm feeling down or hurt or tired.  I feel like my life has some more meaning than simply me fighting for fun. It makes me think that there's no way I can let the Happy Warrior retire any time soon! I still have so much more positivity to spread!  I want to make friends with EVERYONE, and show that fighting can be an honorable athletic contest, not an angry brawl where someone enjoys inflicting pain on another.


Roxanne Modafferi

Roxanne Modafferi Official Twitter

Big thanks to Robert Sargent  (MMA Rising) for English editing.

Female MMA History

MMA has history. It’s not a very long history, and it’s constantly changing, so sometimes people don’t think it’s important, but I think examining the sport’s history is essential to understanding its present and future.


There hasn’t been much written on the history of female MMA. Here, I’ve attempted to construct a history, pieced together with all the information I could research. Most of the information comes from Japanese sources, so the history must be slightly Japanized. But, this was a piece that needed writing, so I’ve written it to the best of my abilities. If you have the will and knowledge to write something similar, please write it.

Japanese women’s MMA has its roots in female pro wrestling. In 2010, you can still find many current and ex-pro wrestlers competing in Japanese women’s promotions like Jewels and Valkyrie. The thin female scene has also acquired much of its talent from kickboxing. I don’t judge those fighters by their backgrounds, but I do think elite martial artists are a special breed. Martial artists who convert from other disciplines only truly shine against stiff competition, and the Japanese female MMA scene isn’t at that level yet, aside from a handful of top-tier fighters.

Female MMA in Japan began when the promotion Ladies Legend Pro Wrestling (LLPW) started its “shoot fighting” Ultimate L-1 Challenge tournament in 1995. The first L-1 tourney was ruled by Svetlana Goundarenko, a Russian Olympic judoka who tipped the scales at 150kg (330 lbs.).

After a few shows, LLPW discontinued its experiment, but in that era, female pro wrestling orgs couldn’t ignore MMA. Therefore, Neo Women’s Pro Wrestling started an event named ReMix in 2000.

The first ReMix World Cup offered a huge bonus of $100,000 to the tournament winner. That type of money had never before been offered in female MMA, so many foreign fighters came to participate in the events, including current stars like Marloes Coenen and Erin Toughill.

L-1 ruler Goundarenko also took part in the tournament since, like men’s MMA, there were no weight classes in the early stages. One would think that the heavier fighter would have an advantage, but Goundarenko lost in the tournament semifinals to 60kg (132 lbs.) fighter Megumi Yabushita. How? ReMix rules prohibited ground-and-pound, and featured a 20 second time limitation for ground fighting. Yabushita was able to avoid Goundarenko’s submission game with the turtle position, and Goundarenko’s stamina proved to be less than impressive, having competed in Olympic judo at 72kg (158 lbs.). So, Yabushita outstruck the Russian with low kicks, and then tried to take down the gassed Goundarenko. After this bout, female MMA began to favor small-but-athletic fighters over heavyweight fighters. Of course, there aren’t many heavyweight female competitors anyway, compared to the number in men’s MMA.

Neo recognized that it couldn’t continue to hand out the huge cash bonus which drew many competitors to the ReMix tournament, and therefore made a new brand for female MMA.

From 2001 to 2008, Japanese women’s MMA was ruled by one promotion: Smackgirl. Founded by Neo Women’s Pro Wrestling head Daiki Shinosaki, Smackgirl operated with a limited rule set, prohibiting ground-and-pound and setting a 30-second time limit for ground work. The ground limitation was eventually lifted in 2007, but it stunted the level of skill improvement in the early stages of women’s MMA. Still, Smackgirl was the only all-female MMA organization in the world to continuously hold events; therefore, almost all of the day’s well-known female fighters passed through the Smackgirl ring.

Koichiro Kimura is the man who developed the ground rules for women’s MMA in Japan. He started an event separate from Smackgirl, named AX. It would run for less than one year, but AX did host some crucial matches. Early on, Smackgirl’s Ikuma Hoshino was considered the Japanese female fighting ace. However, Hoshino lost to Yuka Tsuji via armbar at AX’s second event. It was Tsuji’s first fight, and Hoshino’s first loss.

Tsuji would prove to be Japan’s first elite female fighter, notching 22 wins between 2001 and 2009. Her only loss in that period came at the hands of Ana Michelle Tavares in July 2003, and that memory was erased when Tsuji won a rematch via first-round TKO in September 2009.


Yuka Tsuji

Tsuji’s loss to Tavares took place in Deep, and set a new standard for local Japanese MMA promotions, who began mixing female fights into previously male-only cards. Also during that period, a new rookie beat Tavares and assumed Tsuji’s position at Japan’s female ace. Her name was Megumi Fujii.

After dissolving AX, Koichiro Kimura continued trying to promote female MMA events. He worked with Shooto to start G-Shooto, which opened doors for female fighters to participate in the world’s longest-running and most sporting MMA promotion. Despite Shooto’s reputation for churning out top fighters, G-Shooto never reached its potential, running for just two years before folding.

It was in G-Shooto that Megumi Fujii became the first fighter to defeat Tavares. Fujii was known for her participation in sambo and BJJ competitions, and did not debut in MMA until the age of 30.


Megumi Fujii

If you’ve watched local female MMA in Japan, you’ve probably realized that the lower tier of female fighters is simply not well-trained. It’s no great secret. Male MMA fighters often point to this fact when asked why they refuse to treat female competitors as equals.

Fujii was the opposite of that stereotype. She told her students, “we need to be well-trained in order to not be looked down at by males.”

In December 2004, lightweight fighter Takumi Yano refused to participate in a Pancrase event. His reasoning? Yano had a philosophy about female fights, and therefore would not take part in a card which involved female fighters.

Pancrase, itself an offshoot of professional wrestling, began holding female fights in 2004 under the specially devised “Pancrase Athena” division. The rules consisted of three-minute rounds (as opposed to the standard mens’ five), but did allow for ground-and-pound.

Pancrase began cooperating with the All-Japan Kickboxing Federation (AJKF), bringing in kickboxing converts such as “Windy” Tomomi Sunaba. However, the Athena division had only one true prospect, and that was Hisae Watanabe.

Watanabe made her debut with Smackgirl in 2002. She lost to rival Satoko Shinashi in the 2002 Smackgirl tournament, but audiences were interested in Watanabe because of her “gal” style.

Watanabe’s weak area was on the ground, so she began working out at Gutsman Shooto Dojo and cross-training with male fighters to develop her submission game.

In 2006, at Deep’s 25 Impact, a rematch between Watanabe and Shinashi drew huge attention in the Japanese MMA scene. Four years after their initial meeting, Watanabe outgrappled Shinashi and scored a huge first-round knockout win. Until that point, elite Japanese female fighters had been mostly dependent on submission styles. This type of striking and grappling fusion at a high level was really a first for Japanese female fighters.

However, Watanabe would lose her next match to Seo Hee Ham, a South Korean kickboxing convert with a background in Sanshou. Watanabe showed confidence in her striking, but Ham still outstruck her. Watanabe tried to work her newly-developed ground game, but that wasn’t enough to finish Ham either, and the Korean debutante eventually took a two-round unanimous decision.


Seo Hee Ham

Ham made her name in the Watanabe fight, but her grappling game was not strong enough to hang with Japan’s elite female fighters. She would lose bouts to both Fujii and Tsuji after being outgrappled. Immediately after her win over Watanabe, Ham also lost to a young up-and-comer named Miku Matsumoto.

Hailing from Toyama, Matsumoto was not well-known in Tokyo, since half of her early fights were held in her hometown. She also didn’t participate in Smackgirl, which drew the most attention from women’s MMA fans at the time, being female-only.

Matsumoto became known following a controversial loss to Carina Damm wherein the Brazilian scored an armbar submission, secured in part by grabbing Matsumoto’s glove. Deep promoter Shigeru Saeki -- who sent Matsumoto to the fight in the now-defunct promotion MARS -- got angry and demanded a rematch from the organization’s head, Yuki Amano. One month later, Miku beat Damm by unanimous decision.

Matsumoto’s next fight would be a submission loss to Lisa Ward in Smackgirl. Afterward, Miku said Ward was on a “different level” from herself. This loss drove Matsumoto to become a more complete fighter.

Matsumoto went on to claim the Deep title by outstriking the striker Watanabe to a majority decision in August 2007. Matsumoto showed a technical prowess and brutal knockout power which is rarely seen in female MMA. In August 2008, having armbarred Misaki Takimoto in three previous meetings, Matsumoto knocked Takimoto out with vicious kicks to the body. Six months later, she destroyed Nicdali Calanoc in 21 seconds with similarly nasty knees from the Thai clinch. Matsumoto was not only showing a new level of striking in female MMA, but simultaneously building a viral video fanbase.

Putting her Deep belt on the line, Miku rematched Lisa Ward in front of a supportive hometown crowd in June 2009. This time, Matsumoto totally outgrappled Ward, eventually submitting her via armbar in the third round.

After this, many fans called for Matsumoto to fight Fujii, since they were now considered the top two pound-for-pound female fighters in Japan. Miku intended to fight Fujii, but Fujii changed weight classes and Matsumoto made a sudden decision to retire. Matsumoto didn’t explain to fans why she chose to retire, stating only that there was nothing left for her. However, she said, if there was enough money for top-tier female mixed martial artists, she might return someday.

On April 17, 2010, Fujii and Matsumoto took part in a special exhibition match at Deep’s 47 Impact, after which Miku relinquished her title and retired. Near the same time, Fujii took her act stateside and began participating in Bellator Fighting Championships’ 115-pound women’s tournament.

When Smackgirl folded in 2008 due to financial issues, it gave way to two separate all-female organizations: Jewels and Valkyrie. The result has been a diluted talent pool too shallow to support either organization.

The separate promotions created a horrible situation. A few years before, every female MMA fan thought of a dream match between Meguji Fujii and Yuka Tsuji; now, it was prevented from happening by organizational politics. (Fujii worked with Deep-affiliated Jewels early on, while Tsuji sided with the Greatest Common Multiple-ran Valkyrie.) It’s unacceptable for fights like this not to materialize because of political reasons. Female MMA doesn’t have an endless supply of fighters to help boost popularity. With such a small amount of quality fighters, organizations simply can’t afford to avoid these matchups.

Still, today’s local female MMA scene is the best ever. There are more prospects than ever before, with fighters like Rin Nakai, Hiroko Yamanaka, Ayaka Hamasaki and Sakura Nomura all steadily rising in the ranks. I can say that more real talent with all-around MMA knowledge will continue to rise up, both locally and in the world.



Ayaka Hamasaki


Hiroko Yamanaka


Rin Nakai

With the American MMA market expanding in the post-TUF era, the women’s MMA market in the U.S. has also grown. With Strikeforce creating major women’s titles, female fighters are receiving more attention than ever before.

At first, the stateside scene didn’t get much attention at all, since there was no stable organization holding all-female MMA events. Some investors tried to develop a female MMA scene after watching the success of “The Ultimate Fighter.”

Internet casino owner Calvin Ayre started bringing elite female competitors onto his BodogFight events, including Tara LaRosa, Amanda Buckner, Hitomi Akano and Shayna Baszler. While it made many dream matchups possible, the events were mostly held outside of the U.S. market and didn’t generate much attention.

After BodogFight, fans saw two fighters as sitting atop the women’s 60kg (132-pound) division: Tara LaRosa and Amanda Bucker. (No, I didn’t forget Laura D’Auguste, but she chose not to continue her career.) In April 2008, one Japanese fighter beat Buckner and shook up that situation. Her name was Takayo Hashi.

Hashi had won the Smackgirl title against Hitomi Akano, and although that was a sound accomplishment, Hashi was not considered among the super elite. Hashi went in underweight against Buckner, but outstruck the American with superior kickboxing technique.

I’m not sure if I need to explain Gina Carano to visitors of this website, so I’ll just talk about the basics. Carano was known for her charm and beauty, and gained great popularity on MMA forums. She fought for EliteXC and became something of an idol, maintaining an unbeaten record while beating mostly undersized opponents.

Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos was first known for being the wife of Pride veteran Evangelisa “Cyborg” Santos, but she became known as the first female fighter to combine a stunning physique with actual striking skills. Her impressive early performances against the likes of Baszler and Yoko Takahashi gave people the idea of “Cyborg” vs. Carano.

In 2009, Strikeforce purchased EliteXC’s assets and held a 145-pound female championship bout between Santos and Carano. It was the first female title fight to be held within a major MMA organization.

“Cyborg” used her physical strength to put Carano down and pound her out. Watching Santos’ power, people couldn’t help but think that a new generation of athlete had entered female MMA.

After the event’s success, Strikeforce started a second women’s title division at 135 pounds, where Sarah Kaufman became champion. “Cyborg” and Kaufman were seen as the new evolution of female fighters.

Because of the money and attention available there in the early days of MMA, most elite female fighters have fights in Japan on their records. Roxanne Modafferi, on the other hand, always had ambitions to live and fight in Japan.

Roxanne is known as an optimistic character, so she’s gained a lot of support from fans and those around her. She started in Japan teaching English at a private school, or eikawa.

Modafferi continued to evolve as a fighter with support from her Wajyutsu Keishukai teammate, Ryan Bow, and his Kaminari Dojo people. Despite always having a popular online presence, her first real fan attention came after the 2007 K-Grace tournament.

The eight-woman K-Grace tournament was held by Japanese sports newspaper (or tabloid) Naitai Sports on May 27, 2007, and carried a $10,000 bonus for the winner. It was there that Modafferi beat Megumi Yabushita in the semifinals, then went on to defeat Marloes Coenen by a close decision in the final round. Coenen knocked Modafferi down in the first round, but Modafferi took the Dutchwoman down in the second and worked her ground-and-pound, avoiding Coenen’s armbar attempts.

Coenen had a tough time at 66kg (145 lbs.), losing a unanimous decision to the debuting Cindy Dandois in January 2009. However, Coenen signed with Strikeforce and, in November of that year, took her revenge on Modafferi with a first-round armbar submission. She next stepped up to face the champion “Cyborg,” but couldn’t handle Santos’ striking and physical pressure and, like many others, was TKO’d.

In October 2010, 10 years after winning the first ReMix tourney, Coenen dropped to 135 pounds and armbarred Sarah Kaufman to take the Strikeforce title.

It was this nice coincidence and timing which made me think it was a good time to look back at female MMA history. In 10 years, we’ve confirmed that actual divisions can develop when elite fighters face one another often enough, such as in Strikeforce and Bellator. Having finally jumped that hurdle, female MMA can look forward to having even greater success.

Big thanks to Chris Nelson (write for Bloody Elbow and Sherdog) for English and editing.