“I think the most important thing for Molly is that she always needs to believe in herself,” Rimmer said. “Like many, the losses she suffered were due to a bit of doubt she had in her mind. She was kind of like, ‘I’m just a boxer. Do I deserve to be here? Do I have the necessary experience to get where I want to go?
“I think that was the biggest change in Molly’s career. Her mindset is (now) like, ‘I’ll get you and I’ll give it to you.’ It’s something we talked about a lot.”
All UFC 281: Adesanya vs. Pereira
Rimmer admitted they were all “a bit naïve” when McCann first achieved promotion in terms of skill due to her performance against high profile women in the region. However, within a year of her debut, they got into the grind and helped grow McCann into a true mixed martial artist.
While generally proud to represent Liverpool, McCann is extremely happy to represent her coaches and sparring partners at Next Generation MMA, which skyrocketed to prominence alongside McCann and Pimblett last year.
“I feel like the team, along with Paul and the gymnasium, will have saved so many lives and made people happy,” McCann said. “Life can be a little shitty sometimes, and then you’re like, ‘Oh, I’m training tonight (sigh).’ I wake up like this every day My anxiety is high (high) sometimes, and I can’t breathe, and I can’t eat. other people will have that.
As rumors of the UFC’s return to the UK swirled around the summer of 2021, McCann’s next chance materialized in the form of Ji Yeon Kim in Las Vegas. It was an opportunity to get back into the winner’s circle and make things right.
Now was the time to dig in her heels and get her career back on track for good.
______________________________________________
UFC Fight Night: Till vs. Brunson was seen as something of a British invasion, with six British representatives competing in the UFC APEX, including McCann and Pimblett in his debut.
With much of the focus during fight week on Pimblett’s long-awaited Octagon debut, as well as Darren Till and Tom Aspinall in the main and co-main events, McCann prepared for Kim, who was three inches tall. more and was holding a 10 inch take advantage over the Scouser. Faced with these physical disadvantages, McCann considered it par for the course.
While she UFC fight week interviewan unfazed McCann prophetically joked, “They’re taking the heat for me, so I can fly under the radar, give a fight of the night, then get the hell out of here (laughs).”
After a good boot camp with sparring partners and some strength and conditioning, McCann made the abbreviated march to the cage looking like it had been shot by a cannon, with a decent sized crowd stationed outside. inside the APEX. Although it started abruptly, a clash of heads seated McCann on the canvas. She quickly grabbed Kim’s leg to clear the cobwebs, but after giving it her all the previous two months, she probably found herself down a round.
View McCann Athlete Profile
McCann spent the next two rounds pressuring Kim, squeezing through the longarms and overtaking an injured left hand midway through the fight. By the end of the fight, it was McCann pointing to the ground a la Max Holloway and swinging towards the final horn.
“She just said, ‘I’m going to get myself. I want to get in there. I want to put it on her. I want to keep her against the cage, and I was going to drop it,'” Rimmer said. and she believed in herself that she was going to do it.”
The most memorable moments of the night followed McCann’s win. First, she said her now infamous “I just want a bevvy, man” to Michael Bisping in their Octagon interview. Next are shots of McCann dancing at the edge of the cage as Pimblett scored a first-round knockout. An hour or two later, she learned that she had indeed won Fight of the Night, her first UFC performance bonus. Later, she signed a new contract with the UFC.