Molly McCann is just as amazed as the rest of us when it comes to evaluating her UFC London performances.
The English flyweight contender scored one of the year’s best knockouts this past Saturday when she flattened Luana Carolina with a spinning back elbow, sending The 02 into a frenzy. It was arguably the biggest finish in an evening full of memorable moments and McCann agrees that it’s near the top as far as lifetime milestones go.
“My mom and my dad’s wedding, that’s up there, and that moment for me,” McCann said on The MMA Hour. McCann said, “I was saying that to everyone and the media, that I may never be able to get that knockout again.” They aren’t available to both men and women.
I don’t know what to do, I have no idea. I feel so peaceful because I finally got the moment that I was waiting for. It was my time. I have had many battles with myself and they’ve been against me. It was just my time.”
McCann, who hails from Liverpool, knew she’d be one of the favorites of the London crowd and her anticipation for the fight only grew as she made the walk to the octagon and spied famous faces like former heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua and promoter Eddie Hearn in the crowd.
The moment was not too big for McCann as it turned out and she put on one of her most complete performances against Carolina, mixing in takedowns and showing a deep gas tank throughout.
It wasn’t until she scored her unbelievable knockout that McCann momentarily lost herself.
“Did you see my face?,” McCann said. McCann said, “I was utterly shocked. They don’t always come to you if you try and get a submit or a win.” When you’re loose and you’re sharp, they come. And when I’m not tense. I’ve only knocked one person down I think in the UFC and that was Ariane Lipski, but when I done that it was like a sharp backhand and I didn’t load up. The elbow was so close that I looked at the side, and then I asked myself, “Is this on?” It’s on! Just keep moving, looking, and go. There was no pause or tense it was just go.
“I didn’t put power into it, it was just 100 percent commit to it and I’m never, ever gonna stop thinking about that moment where the referee had to push me out of the way. Because I knew she was out, I didn’t want to go back in. But you can pray for those moments. Like, a Mark Hunt step-over. They pray. But what truly blew my mind was [UFC President Dana White]’s statement that he didn’t believe he would ever get a better knockout by a female. These kinds of finishes are rare. But I think I just that much out of her gas tank with the body shots, the non-stop pressure, the pressure of the occasion, I think she will be mentally trained before getting in there because listen, every single person was screaming for me when I got in there. That must have been scary .”
According to UFC, this was the first ever spinning elbow knockout performed by a female fighter. McCann was also the first Englishwoman ever to fight on an UFC maincard in London.
All those factors added up to a classic clip that is sure to be replayed countless times in the future. At the very least, McCann is optimistic that she is a front-runner to win the 2022 Knockout of the Year.
” It’s almost too late,” McCann stated. “I’ve been committed to the game. It feels like MMA and that fight gave me everything I put in, which could have changed my entire life .”
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