‘The Worst Performance’

Bannon was hoping to make a mark as a rising contender in the UFC strawweight division. Instead she was handed the first loss of her pro MMA career.

Irish women’s strawweight fighter Shauna Bannon got a lot of attention coming into her UFC debut at UFC Fight Night: Aspinall vs. Tybura. She arrived in the promotion with a 5-0 pro record (8-3 as an amateur), a number of kickboxing accolades, and hopes to make a splash against Bruna Brasil on the UFC London prelims.

Unfortunately for her and the Irish fans cheering her on, Bannon had a hard time getting started. She found herself stuck on her back in grappling exchanges for much of the second round. She was down two rounds on the scorecards before rallying for a decent third. In the end “Mama B” lost to Brasil via 29–28, 29–28, and 30–27 scorecards.

In a statement released through her social media accounts, Bannon was hard on herself but optimistic about her future.

“To have the worst performance on the night that means the most is the hardest pain in the world, but I will be back,” she wrote. “Yous all know it and know I belong in that UFC octagon.”

“Thank you so so much to my team, friends, family and all my sponsors I am beyond grateful for each and everyone of you. The ‘Mama B’ era continues, time to heal my heart have lots of cuddles with my boy and level up. See yas soon. IRELAND I LOVE YOU!”

One of Bannon’s biggest supporters coming up in MMA has been Conor McGregor, who rallied the troops coming into fight week.

“Super excited to be supporting Ireland’s newest UFC fighter! Shauna Bannon is FIREWORKS!” he wrote on Twitter. “Excited to see her grace the Octagon this week! We are with you all the way Shauna, when one of us go to war!”

During the fight with Brasil, McGregor was live-tweeting his scorecard, awarding Bannon the win “2-1 handy.”

Alas, that wasn’t the way the judges saw it. Bannon will have to go back to the drawing board and shore up some of the deficiencies in her ground game and start speed if she wants to become a force at 115 pounds. As “Mama B” said herself, it’s time to level up.