A veteran MMA fighter who has stepped into the cage about 30 times already, Roxanne Modafferi is not of Asian descent, but aside from studying multiple styles of Asian martial arts, she is fluent in Japanese, lived in Japan for quite a number of years, and is an anime fan. As a fellow anime geek and student of Japanese, I feel like I could actually hang out with her, although her Japanese is like a million times more legit than mine.
Modafferi recently wrote an article about the experience of being part of the production staff and official translator at a UFC event in Japan, and in an interview for Yahoo Sports, she discusses the “culture shock” of moving back Stateside as she had spent her adult life in Japan. She gives some insight in the differences between MMA training in Japan and the Untied States.
Known as the “Happy Warrior”, she is the adorable geeky sweetheart of MMA. You’d be hard pressed to find an MMA fighter that doesn’t like her as a person and respect her as a fighter.
Modafferi’s win at Invicta FC8 in September 2014 really made a statement that she is on a new warrior’s path, definitely a happy one, and she’s stated that she’s gunning for the Invicta FC Flyweight (125 lbs) Championship Belt from Barb Honchak. She recently switched over to the Syndicate camp in Las Vegas, which has really been showing up in her new and improved fighting styles.
You can read all about her life in her autobiography, “Memoirs of a Happy Warrior” available as a ebook on Amazon.
She will be fighting in InvictaFC10 on December 5 in a re-match against Vanessa Porto.
