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MMA is a sport filled with burning questions. What’s the right way to defend an armbar? What’s the best way to cut weight? How many Demetrious Johnsons would it take to beat Francis Ngannou? Fortunately, former UFC title contender Roxanne Modafferi has the answers, in her Bloody Elbow exclusive column, ‘Dear Roxy’.
In our last edition, Roxy tackled a few more of readers’ burning quandaries on her non-training diet, fighters who refuse to tap to locked-in submissions, and she revealed her latest hobby.
This time around Roxy talks about when to pull out of a fight, her opinion on corners throwing in the towel to protect fighters, and her take on Power Slap.
Dear Roxy — Pushing through injury or illness
At what level of injury or illness would you make the decision to pull out of a fight as opposed to pushing through? – King Juice Pouch
Dear King Juice Pouch,
I’ve pulled out of two fights, one the week before, and one the night of. I still feel incredibly guilty about them, and that I’m a weakling. The criteria were a neck injury and illness. My neck hurt so badly that I couldn’t turn it side to side or touch my ear on my shoulder. My neck had been in chronic pain those days, and I’ve fought through limited flexibility many times, but not that bad.
I was truly afraid that if she threw me on my side or rolled me over, I would break my neck because it wasn’t bending. It was in Japan and they always fight anyway, so they were pissed at me. It was my spine though – the most important thing in my body, right? That one was easy, and the week before.
The other one was me getting food poisoning before Sengoku.
I had a fever and was dizzy, barely able to stand up. I knew I’d go out there in front of thousands of people, get punched twice, and lose. I felt weak, was shivering, and throwing up. I had to decide which was better: feeling ashamed the rest of my life for not rising to the challenge and having the fans resent me, or maybe get hurt in the fight, have everyone think I’m weak, perform terribly, be devastated by the loss. Nobody cares that a fighter feels sick.
I decided to not put myself through the fight. They made me enter the ring, the place I wanted the most to be, bow to the crowd and my opponent, and apologize. I have never seen that before, have you? It was torture. Then, I had to go back to the gym where my opponent trained because we both trained there a few days later totally fine because food poisoning passes quickly. It’s not even like I blew out my knee. I often wonder if I should have tried to fight anyway, but I was surprised how much like death I felt.
Dear Roxy — Corners throwing in the towel
What do you think would need to change to achieve more widespread adoption of corners throwing in the towel to protect their fighter’s longevity and career? How likely is this in a sport obsessed with toughness? – Halestal
Dear Halestal,
Actually, I’m old-school and I don’t want my corner to throw in the towel for me. If I’m fighting, I understand the consequences. I know I could get seriously hurt or die. That’s why I call my parents before each fight to say, “I love you.” I don’t want my corner to rob me of my chance to make a comeback if I’m losing. If I’m done fighting back, I should tap out. That’s the way out.
We do it in training every day. Thankfully, I never gotten beaten up badly enough that it was even considered. It’s also the ref’s job to see if I’m not defending myself or knocked out. One day I purposely didn’t bring a towel to the fight. Coach John Wood said, “Where’s your towel? I might have to wipe your opponent’s blood off your face.” That was a great response.
However, if the ref is asleep, and I’m already unconscious while still getting hit, my coach should absolutely throw the towel in. That’s the only scenario I can think of. I think it’s good to be obsessed with toughness because it’s fighting, not golf.
The rules have been changed because it’s a mainline sport, and fighters are called “Athletes” now. But they aren’t making “Athlete” money unless they are top 5 in the UFC. I wasn’t called an “athlete” until Shannon Knapp in Invicta, 2015. I remember that day. “What? I’m an athlete? Hahaha yeah right.” I’m probably wrong and just old.
Dear Roxy — Power Slap
Your take on PowerSlap. And the differences between MMA training and what they filmed as PowerSlap training. – Memoruiz
Dear Memoruiz,
I think Power Slap is … not what I want to watch. I don’t think it can be called a sport because there’s no defense or opposition to attacks, the slap thrown by the opponent. Is the point to see how bad of a concussion you can get?
Someone on YouTube said he trained the same way he would for MMA except no groundwork. I haven’t really watched more. But like I said in the Q&A above, if they give consent, then they can do whatever they want to their bodies, and the companies can profit off of it.
But, by giving consent, that means someone needs to tell them that every time they get knocked out, or hit really hard, they are getting little or big concussions which damage their brains, so over time, maybe a short time, it’s going to affect their daily life. If they don’t know, then it’s terrible and disgusting. If they know and do it, it’s up to them. I don’t find it entertaining because I’ve had concussions.
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