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Meet the NASA Rocket Scientist Behind the Bizarre Roxanne Modafferi UFC 271 Scorecard

Published 02/14/2022, 8:58 AM EST

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Roxanne Modafferi might have lost her UFC 271 bout, but gave a tough fight to Casey O’Neill. The fight seemed to be going in O’Neill’s luck. Judges Ivan Guzman and Kerry Hatley scored the fight in the younger fighter’s favor, as people had expected. However, the third judge, Rob Alexander, scored the bout in Modafferi’s favor, which came as a shock. Therefore, Casey O’Neill won the fight via a split decision.

While ‘King’ still won the fight, many have come forward to criticize Rob Alexander for his faulty scoring.

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Journalist Aaron Bronsteter has a hilarious way of putting forth his opinion on the topic. He tweeted, “You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that Casey O’Neill won that fight, but in fairness, the judge that scored it for Roxanne Modafferi is an actual rocket scientist.”

While Alexander’s achievements as an aerospace engineer are remarkable, a fan wondered whether the judge has any ties with the MMA sport. According to Bronsteter, Alexander has a black belt in ‘Tomiki Aikido’ and is also pursuing training in other forms of martial arts.

Moreover, all the 19 media members who scored the fight on MMADecisions scored O’Neill higher than Modafferi.

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Bisping wasn’t happy with Alexander’s scoring and expressed this after Modafferi’s farewell speech. As per Fox Sports, Bisping said, “I don’t think he should be judging MMA. Because that is crazy. You clearly see that was a great win for Casey O’Neill. Roxanne did great, showed a lot of heart, but she did not win that fight.”

With the MMA community disappointed in his skills as a judge, it would be interesting to see if the promotion appoints him again in the future.

Roxanne Modafferi: Her long career

‘The Happy Warrior’ might have lost UFC 271, but it was indeed a special fight for her. After all, it was her final fight before retirement. She had an extremely eventful and long career as an MMA fighter.

via Imago

Modafferi started fighting professionally back in 2003. The fighter fought for a significant number of promotions before being a part of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ in 2013, 2017, and 2018. From 2018 onwards, she started fighting under the UFC.

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The 25-20-0 record-holder was never a contender for the UFC women’s flyweight title. But her presence in the sport has been of utmost importance. With such a lengthy career, she definitely deserves to walk away with satisfaction.

What’s next for Roxanne Modafferi?

With a total of 50 fights throughout her career, Modafferi feels lucky to not have any brain trauma. That was one thing she was concerned about.

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Apart from her MMA career, she also teaches children Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. So that seems like something she would continue doing. While her fans may miss her at the UFC, it would be interesting to see if she takes on any new role at the promotion. What do you think?

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Written by:

Rohini Kottu

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Rohini Kottu is a UFC Writer at EssentiallySports. She is also a Psychologist and has a Master's degree in Clinical Psychology. Rohini, in her role as a UFC writer, combines her admiration for the mental resilience that MMA fighters have and her love for analysis.
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