UFC star Molly McCann has revealed she is unsure when she will make her return to competitive action following her recent defeat to Erin Blanchfield.
McCann’s impressive three-win streak was ended by the American at last month’s UFC 281 in New York, losing by submission in round one of the bout. The 32-year-old suffered multiple heavy blows from her opponent and was forced to tap out to avoid further discomfort.
One month has passed since this fight but the pain of November 12 lives on for ‘Meatball Molly’, who plans to take some time away from the sport as she seeks a sense of normality in her life after experiencing a meteoric rise in her career.
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Taking time to reflect on her first UFC setback since February 2021, McCann told the ECHO at a charity event in Liverpool: “I’m not going to lie, it is still with me every day. It feels almost like the loss of a loved one, if you can imagine the dream you’ve had since being a kid was to compete in MSG (Madison Square Garden) and then you don’t really get to perform the way you want. It leaves a sour taste.
“The positives to take away, on reflection, is that I got a hero’s welcome like when I walked out in Liverpool and she got booed. Even when I lost, she [Blanchfield] got booed even more. To know you are the people’s champion and fan favourite, that’s what gets you through the dark days.”
Asked if there is anything she would have done differently at UFC 281, McCann continued: “Not at all. This isn’t boxing, it’s about who implements their game plan first. If I had punched or elbowed her, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I spent 15 weeks preparing, doing extra sessions, I brought in Olympic wrestlers – everything was on. I threw one big dig; she didn’t like it and took me down. I fell into a position which you can’t get out of and I held on for as long as I could. I am proud of how I handled myself after it; I gave her the respect she deserves and I wasn’t a spoiled brat.”
Victories over Hannah Goldy, Luana Carolina and Ji Yeon Kim have ensured 2022 has largely been a year to remember for the Liverpudlian, a successful journey she has shared with fellow UFC fighter Paddy 'The Baddy' Pimblett.
The Merseyside double act have taken the sport by storm over the last year and continue to support one another inside and outside of the octagon, but a whirlwind period featuring so many highs has slowly taken its toll. Ruling herself out of UFC 286 on March 18, scheduled to be held in London, McCann wants to take time to rediscover her true self.
“We have had a bereavement within the family so I have not been back in the gym since the fight,” she tells the ECHO. “With Paddy’s recent event [UFC 282], I didn’t want to bring the atmosphere down and take away the shine from my training partners. I am Molly McCann and I will always be back and will come again, but I don’t know when. I won’t be out in March at UFC London.
“What’s required of myself, Paddy, Darren [Till] and Tom Aspinall when we fight is a lot. You need to be ready for the camp, the media and everything else. Until I’ve got that urge, I will take a bit of time out. I want to be Molly for a bit. I know this sounds mental, but for the last two years it has been ‘The Meatball’ and the Molly and Paddy show - and people don’t really know who I am. I don’t get to live a normal life and I would just like a couple of months to walk my dogs, cook my own food and do work within my community. I’m doing so much with Weapons Down Gloves Up and KnifeSavers, which teaches people how to stem bleeding after a knife attack.”
Adamant that the pressures that come with being a professional athlete are often overlooked, McCann points to two members of the men’s England national football team to make her case.
“Take Marcus Rashford, for example,” said the mixed martial artist. “Look at him post-Euros, he was a shell of a man for a very long time and he’s only just coming out of it. People are fickle and people who have got no emotional intelligence speak on matters they would never know or understand about.
“When I’m in the cage, I always say, imagine Bukayo Saka when he took that last penalty for England at Euro 2020. Everyone is watching you do that one thing. I’m not saying when I fight it is to that magnitude at all, but I’m talking about pressure and how you feel. I go to an Everton football match and when I see them play, I’m like ‘What is going on here?’ but I don’t ever criticise them personally because I know what it is like. You can criticise performance, but when you get personal it is a step too far.”
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