Big Bad Blog Video Theater-Roxanne Modafferi vs Barb Honchak

Here's the match video for Roxanne Modafferi vs Barb Honchak from last night's UFC show in Las Vegas. As I said yesterday on my podcast, the big question about this match is Barb Honchak anything close to what she was when she was Invicta champ. We now know the answer to that question is no. Look, a fighter can't take three years off and then return at age 38 and expect to be the same fighter. Meanwhile, Roxanne has improved mainly because her coach John Wood won't allow her to do anything foolish. At the start of round one, Barb was getting the best of striking exchanges. So Roxanne took her down and controlled Barb from top position. She didn't do much with it. I thought Barb's striking was more effective than Roxy's ground control so I scored the round 10-9 for Barb. Wood told Roxy to go for a takedown early in round two and she could get a finish. And that's what she did. The position was perfect for a ground and pound finish. A few years ago, Roxanne would not have punched Barb under any circumstances. And she said after the fight she didn't want to punch Barb. But Wood knows this and he kept yelling at her to keep punching. Eventually the ref stopped the fight and Roxanne Modafferi wins by TKO. And as I said, it's all thanks to Wood who won't allow her to be foolish. I'm not convinced she can be a title contender. But she's a better fighter today than she was when she was living in Japan. This fight did convince me that Barb Honchak should have never returned. She's not who she used to be. But she has at least one more fight on her UFC contract. I'd like to see her retire but fighters are very stubborn. Enjoy the video!