Molly McCann knows everyone is still talking about her unbelievable spinning elbow knockout, and that’s likely to be the case at least until the year is through.
She also realizes she won’t be able to bring her knockout in the octagon this Saturday against Hannah Goldy, UFC London. McCann was asked ahead of the fight if she felt it was necessary to forget her Luana Carolina finish. Her response was clear.
“One-hundred percent,” McCann said. It seems like that spinning elbow is a sign of f***ing Saturday. That’s not going to win me the fight, living off the last fight. It has given me belief and mental strength to go into the next fight knowing what my capabilities are.
“As you may all have noticed, last time I came here, I was calm and collected. I did make some jokes, swear words, and was a little bit out of my element in the UFC, but now I feel like I am really getting my feet under me and want to keep it consistent .”
McCann has now won two straight fights and is riding a 5-2 mark in her past seven fights to the edge of contention. Notable wins include Ji Yeon Kim’s win, Ariane Lipski’s victory, and Priscila Chachoeira’s.
However, for many fans, “Meatball” didn’t truly emerge as a dark horse contender until she connected with that once-in-a-lifetime elbow knockout of Carolina. The fact that it happened in front of a raucous London crowd helped to make the clip truly viral.
“It kind of blew up, didn’t it?” McCann said. The internet kinda blew off my elbow and it just confirmed that I’m who I claim to be. Prior to the UFC, I had finishes and really nice ones with my hands, and this time I just got that moment where everyone got to really realize, ‘F***, that is what she is about.’
” Moving forward — you can lose sometimes but I believe I have learned more from this win than any of my previous losses. Even though the striking won the fight, I have gone away feeling that I had worked hard on my grappling.
” I want to continue evolving as a mixed-martial artist and to get better. I’m not satisfied with my current level of performance, but my feet have been firmly planted on the ground. I’ve gone from the ‘I just want a bevvy game’ to the elbow game, and I wonder what we’ll get on Saturday night, what happens next.”
McCann has known fame in the past, having been signed to the UFC in 2018 after a knockout of Bryony Tyrell that won her a vacant Cage Warriors title. Gillian Robertson was her opponent in the UFC debut, which she lost to her.
“I think notoriety and all of that kind of thing means f*** all,” McCann said. I’ve discovered that none of this is true. It doesn’t make me a better person or change the way I live my life. It doesn’t change my family’s life. Liverpool’s got a really good way of sometimes keeping you humble. My training partners can make me feel humble just by walking into the gym each day. My mom, my family, my girlfriend, everyone on the bus, they joke all the time, just because I fight it doesn’t mean anything.
” I’ve been trying to be more role-model than a bevy head. I’ve tried to drink less and do more for my community since getting more notoriety, so I think that always keeps you humble. Through all of this journey and through everything and through the last fight I’ve just realized I just want to be world champion. I just want to be a world champion again, and I can’t look too far in the future. It’s up to me to accept every moment and fight that comes my way. As I said, it’s impossible to live on that performance forever. While the finish might not be as good, I must ensure that it is better than the previous one. Although the final result might not be as good as the first, fighting intelligence and decision-making should .”
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No matter how successful McCann is going forward, her famous knockout will be replayed ad nauseum in UFC highlight reels until the end of time. McCann is determined to fight for a world title and win the gold, as nice as it sounds.
In the grand scheme of things, her previous UFC London win is already a blip, while her upcoming UFC London fight and the fights still to come are framed front and center.
” I’m Molly McCann. That’s what’s been normal in my life,” McCann stated. “Nothing’s ever been normal in my life. I felt more happiness in all honesty since all of that, because I think if you feel fulfilled and have lived up to your potential — I don’t feel like I’m touching my potential yet, but I’m throwing steady growth towards where I need to be. The hardest thing is to learn to say no and to not give up too much. This I have also been learning in the fight camp. Nothing else has been done but to eat, train, and sleep.
” The main thing is not to lose sight of the important thing. And if I’m honest with my goals and my dreams and my ambitions of being a world champion, then I can’t run away. Like I keep saying, that elbow will probably get sketched on my gravestone and my ‘I just want a bevvy’ quote will be there, but it doesn’t mean anything, in all honesty.”
