Having already captured major titles in multiple promotions, Roxanne Modafferi should have been a shoo-in to compete among the best in Strikeforce. Instead, the mild-mannered, self-professed “geek” has endured months of uncertainty leading up to her long-awaited Strikeforce debut this Friday as part of the “Fedor vs Rogers” event.

Modafferi will battle old rival Marloes Coenen in a rematch from their hotly-contested 2007 bout, which Modafferi won. Their second meeting may air on the CBS telecast if time permits.

With a record of 13-4-0, Modafferi has fought and beaten many of the sport’s best female fighters and she is only getting started.

As the first and only woman to have ever defeated feared striker Jennifer Howe – an accomplishment which she achieved on two separate occasions – Modafferi was once the #1-ranked female fighter in the world, though she never knew it at the time.

However, tough losses to elite-level competition in Laura D’Auguste (undefeated), Tara LaRosa (current #2-ranked female) and “The Queen of Spades” Shayna Baszler (top female submission fighter) provided Modafferi with areas to work on and improve.

Never letting anything get her down, Modafferi worked diligently to make her goal of defeating “all of the top female fighters” a reality.

Rebounding in impressive fashion, Modafferi captured the Fatal Femmes Fighting Women’s Lightweight Championship with a five-round decision victory over Cassandra Rivers-Blasso on February 17, 2007.

Three months later, Modafferi entered the one-night K-GRACE Women’s Open-Weight Tournament in Tokyo, Japan. She won her first two fights and advanced to the finals. There, she met Dutch standout Marloes Coenen, who held a significant size and strength advantage over the American.

Persevering through a knockdown and a painful toe hold at the very end of round one, Modafferi came back strong in the second half of the fight and took a Split Decision victory to become K-GRACE Open-Weight Tournament Champion.

She went on to successfully defend her Fatal Femmes Fighting title with a third-round TKO of Vanessa Porto at FFF 4: “Call of the Wild.” It marked the first time that Porto had ever been stopped with strikes – something that not even Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos could accomplish – and gave Modafferi the first TKO victory of her career.

In November of 2008, Modafferi defeated Chisa Yonezawa by Unanimous Decision at the debut Valkyrie event in Japan. It would mark the last time that she would compete for nearly a year to the day.