UFC 246: Roxanne Modafferi scores HUGE upset and dominates Maycee Barber in bloody battle

19 Jan, 2020 03:37 / Updated 5 years ago

Coming into UFC 246 as the biggest underdog on the card by a large margin, flyweight veteran Roxanne Modafferi handed hyped prospect Maycee Barber the first defeat of her young career.

To close out the UFC 246 preliminary card, we saw a top flyweight contest between Roxanne Modafferi and Maycee Barber.

For Barber, it was the biggest fight of her still very young career as she attempted to launch up the rankings. Modafferi was about as seasoned of an opponent as she could have gotten and it showed.

After some early back and forth exchanges on the feet that saw each land some good shots, Modafferi would wind up finding a body lock takedown.

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From there, she would control and land some ground and pound to easily take the round.

Starting off the middle round, Modafferi lightly touched "The Future's" chin with a jab and dropped her. Upon review, it appeared that Barber would suffer a knee injury that ended up being the reason for her falling down.

In this round, Modafferi would land some better ground and pound elbows than in the previous round. Therefore leading to a good cut on Barber. With blood now coloring the mat, Modafferi had established a firm lead. The large favorite needed a finish.

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However, things got interesting as between rounds the doctors checked Barber's cut as well as her knee. Insisting that she was okay, the doctor told the referee that Barber was "fine" but has a partially torn ACL. The fight continued but Barber was obviously compromised and her leg continued to buckle throughout the final frame.

Round three was more of the same with Modafferi controlling. But it wasn't without Barber still looking for the win as she hit a sweep to briefly look for an americana from half guard. It wouldn't last and Modafferi eventually flipped momentum and finished the round on top once again.

Previously 8-0, Barber's record suffered its first blemish and Modafferi scored her 24th victory in fight No. 40.