“My life was so in the balance; I was too polished” – UFC star Molly McCann
When Molly McCann watched Brazilian Mixed Martial Artist Lara Procopio get her hand raised last February at the UFC Fight Night 184, the Liverpudlian said to herself she’s not doing this anymore.
It was a second successive defeat for the 31-year-old and meant she went into her next fight in a disastrous state – requiring an emphatic win to earn a new UFC deal.
That was exactly what McCann did against Ji Yeon Kim this September – earning a whopping £36,116 Fight of the Night bonus – and the flyweight disclosed how she came back from the bottom.
She said via online casino nz, “You could say it was the worst time in my career for outcomes in the cages.”
“I had a wobbly. I had to sit back and think how could I be from this working-class city where everyone struggles, every day and just because my adversity is a bit greater than others, am I just going to throw the towel in?
“Will I act like a spoiled brat? I wasn’t even being spoiled; I was heartbroken.”
The heartbreak stretched back than her over 2-year wait for a victory. McCann last won about in October 2019 when she won three straight fights after a loss in her UFC debut.
She said, “I got beat in my UFC debut in such a fashion that it just scared me.”
“You’re not taught how to deal with it and there’s no one really there to help. There’s the aftercare for the body being broke but not for the mind being broke. It’s literally taken me three years to overcome that.”
She added: “My life was so in the balance in this fight.”
McCann has since developed a reputation as a forthright person and no-holds-barred MMA fighter, but the ex-Cage Warriors star disclosed she’d lost sight of herself recently.
Since her last loss, McCann paid attention more to her own mindset than her training routine. She believes there’s nothing wrong with the training and was certain she was improving in the gymnasium. McCann opted to start work with a “mind coach” Tom Smyth, who got in touch after her defeat earlier in the year.
McCann feels the refocusing of her mindset led to her return to the victorious column.
McCann said, “I think the more successful I got the more humble I became. I wasn’t as nasty; I was too polished.”
“Everyone knows I’m a nice human, but I’ve got to be nasty to get the best out of my fighting style. I’ve got to showboat a bit when I’m in there. I’ve got to be a little bit more Liverpool.”
“I’m that fighter you’re always going to get the drama with,” she added.
“I’m never going to make it that easy. It’s always everybody on the edge of their seat – people want to watch that.
“People come on the journey with me. It provides light and shade or something.
“It was that moment where I could have absolutely gone hiding there, I could have absolutely given up. There are moments in fights where that is very much an option. But, not for me. Not for me.”
After her exciting display, McCann and her management are sure she will be offered a new deal by the UFC.
“I couldn’t do anymore. I was value for money,” McCann said via top online casino, hoping to book her next fight in December with the UFC still wanting to hold an event in the UK before the end of the year.
