After a devastating loss in front of a proud hometown crowd, “Meatball” is back at a new weight class — and a new mentality — toward the adversities of mixed martial arts (MMA).

After suffering back-to-back (bad) losses in her last two outings, Molly McCann is back this weekend (Sat., Feb. 3, 2024) at UFC Vegas 85. But, “Meatball” almost didn’t return at all. In an interview with UFC.com, McCann admitted she was ready to retire after a quick loss in front of a proud hometown crowd at UFC London.

“I’ll be deadly serious with you, last fight I was in the changing room and that was me done, the gloves were up,” McCann said. “And we had an evening to drink on it, to eat on it, and then the next day I was still kind of over it. Because you know me, I give my life to this game. It just felt so cruel and unfair in that moment.

“On the train me coach just said, ‘Look, I’ll tell you when enough is enough, I won’t let you get hit, I won’t let you take shots or more shame or embarrassment than you feel you need to take,’” McCann continued. “He said, ‘But, give me one fight at 115.’”

McCann will now make her women’s Strawweight debut against Diana Belbita inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. It’s a rematch of their bout where McCann walked away with a unanimous decision win at UFC on ESPN 6 back in 2019. The odds have the Liverpudian as a solid favorite (see them here), and she needs a win to get her spirits back up after the way United Kingdom fans turned on her following her brutal submission loss to Julija Stoliarenko in July 2023.

“I felt like I was at the mercy of the world because of the backlash I received after UFC London,” McCann remembered. “I say this a lot, it was like I’d killed a child the way people was going for me.”

Stoliarenko quickly tapped McCann with an armbar, leading “Meatball” to up her ground game. She went on to win her Polaris grappling debut in Nov. 2023 via armbar and then a British ADCC tournament.

“I just thought, ‘What a Molly way to win a professional jiu-jitsu match by the submission that I lost by,’ and then go on to win the British ADCC Open through a footlock made me laugh my head off.”

Now, McCann feels dialed-in mentally and physically at 115 pounds for 2024.

“As you get older, you learn how to deal with the adversities,” she said. “I’ve been to the moon and back in this game a few times in this game, and through experience, them moments you learn. Lauren Hill, I watched something of hers the other day and she said ‘It’s learning or mastership.’ You’re in these positions where it’s a learning process or you get the mastership of the moment.

“So, I’ve definitely mastered losing now so it’s enough of that now so I’m gonna master winning as well,” she concluded.

No Mersey!

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Author: Staff

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