Molly McCann believes that her move to Strawweight has come at the perfect time, as the Liverpool native returns to the octagon on February 3rd.
‘Meatball’ competes for the first time since defeat to Julija Stoliarenko at UFC Fight Night: Aspinall vs Tybura. With that loss, McCann picked up back-to-back losses for only the second time in her career, which spurred a move to a different weight class.
Ahead of her Strawweight debut, the Next Generation star outlined the details and reasoning surrounding the decision to drop down in weight. She said:
“The drop was because I was outsized, and I think you can all see that was always the deal. I would always get in there and the girls would be so big. I remember doing a dexa scan years ago and they kind of just said ‘If you drop, you’re going to lose a lot of muscle and stuff.’ This time we’ve done it and I haven’t. I know every fighter will say this, but I don’t cheat, I really don’t cheat. I give everything I can, but I have found more.
“And I’ve done that because this is my dream. My dream is to do this for as long as I can, as many fights as I can, and I have probably done it at the right time. I’ve got a bit of a name behind me, I’ve managed to beat some good girls, I’ve got some big finishes at a higher weight.
“I’ve gone away, perfected my craft, dropped my weight correctly, making weight safely and I think if you look at me, I’m not drawn in, I’m all good. I just feel really calm and ready, and I think there is a new sense of stillness because I have done more, I know what I’ve normally done and I’ve done more. I am just ready.”
Having done meticulous work in camp and with her nutritionist, the former Cage Warriors champion expects to be 10 to 15 pounds heavier and competing at her optimal level come fight night.
“We know what my optimum weight is so when we’ve done this fight camp and we have recorded the fight rounds and we have watched the output, when I can dip into the red zone and how fast the recovery is. I know that when I reload after eating on Friday I will probably be hitting between 125-130lbs, that is my optimum level.
“The lower the weight has got, the faster I’ve been and with mine and Paddy’s nutritionist, he has this special way of melting fat off people but keeping the numbers correct and making the weight safely and correct. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a fighter drop a weight and have 200g of carbs the day before they are making weight.
“I have really, honestly put the work in and I cannot wait to show you all on Saturday.”
Welcoming ‘Meatball’ to the Strawweight division is Diana Belbita. The two previously met in 2019, at Flyweight, in a bout which McCann took home the win with a unanimous decision. McCann expects a much better performance from them both and is excited to be competing someone else that loves to strike as much as her.
“With me, everyone I have ever been given, I have took – even when stylistically I knew it was going to be the toughest night of my life. When I was offered this I said to my manager, Graham, ‘Really?’ he said ‘Yes princess.’ I went ‘Yes boss, I’m in.’ I know she’s like me, so we want to fight and by fight I just mean probably stand and bang a little longer than ones going to try and take the other one down for so it excites me to know that we can have tradeoffs. It excites me to know that it is hard for her to be put away so if I put her away, it shows that I am the caliber that I believe I am and when we did fight, it was her debut and I had really bad food poisoning that day, like I remember the second I got out of the cage I was sick on Megan Olivi’s shoe!
“I wasn’t the best me that night, she wasn’t the best her. We’ve both gone away, given our life to this craft. I feel like me, her and Gillian Robertson are all quite similar in we love this game and we learn on the job and we learn in front of everyone else so we just want to fight. I am getting a solid dance partner in that.”
UFC Vegas 85 goes down this Saturday at the UFC, Apex with an intriguing main event between Nassourdine Imavov & Roman Dolidze.
