LAS VEGAS – Not only is Molly McCann far from done with MMA, but she also can’t even envisage a time when she will tire of the sport.
After suffering a unanimous decision loss to Lara Procopio at UFC Fight Night 184, McCann (10-4 MMA, 3-3 UFC) left her gloves in the octagon – a move that sparked speculation that she had retired. However, she later clarified on social media that the gesture was to honor her father after his death on his birthday and that she still has plenty of fight left in her.
Currently enduring the first losing skid of her career, McMann vented her frustration on the stylistic matchup and how close she came to submitting Procopio when she locked up an armbar that briefly had the Brazilian in trouble.
“It was a lot of frustration that I didn’t get to show what I wanted to show and how hard we’ve worked since the Taila (Santos) fight, and how close the jiu-jitsu finally got to submit a black belt,” McCann said during an impromptu appearance at Wednesday’s UFC 258 media day. “It was just a lot of frustration. I wanted to honor my dad’s memory in some way. I didn’t really think too much about what I was doing, but I knew I wasn’t quitting. There’s too much fight in the old dog, like I said.
“I’ll never be done with it. I’ll be like Diego Sanchez. I’ll probably be about 40 and still, like, screaming at people and giving them the finger. But it was so much frustration and it’s just annoying that someone didn’t come to fight the way I like to fight. It was a win by their means necessary and not mine. I want to fight. Mick Maynard, give me someone who wants to fight and scrap, not someone who wants to take me down and lie on me.”
To help get over her loss, McCann has stayed on in Las Vegas to help former foe Gillian Robertson prepare for her fight against Miranda Maverick on Saturday’s UFC 258 card.
“I messaged Gillian and I was like, ‘Do you want me to help you on fight week?’ And it’s probably the best thing I could have done because she’s the one who changed my whole career,” McCann said. “She was the best and worst thing that ever happened to me, was Gillian Robertson. So because of her, I’m still here.”
Molly McCann insists her love for MMA hasn’t wavered: ‘I’ll never be done with it’
