- 3 years ago
Molly McCann looking to return to winning ways against Stoliarenko at London's O2
Molly McCann (13-5, Liverpool, England) looks to get back in the win column and deliver another highlight-reel finish.
Six wins by KO
Four first-round finishes
Has won three of last four
Molly McCann (13-5, Liverpool, England) looks to get back in the win column and deliver another highlight-reel finish.
Six wins by KO
Four first-round finishes
Has won three of last four
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00 >> Hey Molly, over here.
00:00 >> Hello, darling.
00:01 >> How are you?
00:02 >> I'm absolutely brilliant, thank you.
00:04 >> How's flight week been for you so far?
00:05 >> Do you know what?
00:06 I'm not sure if you have felt the calm, but
00:08 I feel like this is the calmest UFC I've probably ever been a part of.
00:12 Like, the hotel's calm, there's not a lot of, there's no one here.
00:16 We're just being able to relax.
00:19 And I think it's me fourth UFC London, so
00:21 it feels very much like I'm back at home.
00:24 >> Is that refreshing in a way?
00:26 >> Yeah, it is.
00:27 I really like being here.
00:29 I really like London.
00:31 I like the vibe.
00:32 And yeah, it's nice to not be very apprehensive all the time when you don't
00:37 know the layout, you just, sometimes fight weeks are hectic.
00:42 And I think when Patrick's here,
00:44 sometimes everyone wants to fight him before we even get in the cage.
00:47 So there's a lot of madness always, but not this time.
00:51 >> Yeah, and obviously your last one didn't go your way.
00:53 What was kind of the biggest takeaway from that fight?
00:58 >> Just I had the best fight camp of my life.
01:00 I brought in amazing training partners, I leveled up, and
01:05 I think I just didn't get what I thought I deserved.
01:07 I got the worst outcome I've ever received in a fight, to be honest.
01:11 So I just, I took, I went away, I took time off.
01:16 I kind of had to reset, cuz I feel like I'd been on this very high trajectory.
01:22 It was very fast, it was a lot to have to deal with for any human.
01:26 I just had to ground myself a bit and just realize my whole world isn't fighting.
01:33 I think you'll all know that fighters live and breathe for this.
01:37 And sometimes you get consumed and it's just, I've gotta do this,
01:40 I've gotta do this, I've gotta do this.
01:42 And you don't feel like you can say no, and you can turn things down.
01:45 And sometimes you're running on zero.
01:48 I'm gonna kill you, Liam McArthur, can't you be?
01:52 [LAUGH] And yeah, I feel like Erin's a stud, isn't she?
01:57 I don't think any of us really knew the level of her.
02:01 And I think watching her win her next fight, it was a little bit easier for
02:07 me to take the blow as what I did.
02:09 But look, I had to walk through a lot after that fight, personally.
02:14 I had to deal with just the loss and grieve the loss and just bounce back.
02:19 I think he's all now after I've lost,
02:22 I do normally come back on a couple of big fight win streak.
02:26 >> And does it kind of light a fire under you?
02:28 Cuz I know fans sometimes in the sport can be a little bit fickle when a fighter
02:32 comes off of a loss.
02:33 So has that kind of lit a fire under you?
02:34 >> I think I've really learned to understand that I won't take the fans praise
02:41 or the hatred, that the praise won't make me perform better.
02:46 And the hatred, I don't need to be emotional.
02:48 And I'm gonna prove them wrong cuz when I go to sleep at night,
02:53 who's next to me?
02:54 It's my fiance, who's there, it's me and my own brain.
02:57 So I think I've just got over that bit, and it is overwhelming.
03:01 Do you know what I mean?
03:02 No one's taught how to kind of navigate through these bits.
03:05 But again, I feel like you'll all notice when fighters become a bit more
03:10 experienced, they're able to just park that bus and
03:14 don't need to get on that bus anymore.
03:16 Do you know what I mean?
03:16 So that's been a big learning curve for me.
03:19 And it's a lot easier on the mental when you don't look at comments and
03:24 you don't have to go there.
03:25 Do you know what I mean?
03:27 Cuz some of the stuff that you read, honestly,
03:29 you don't know cuz you've been around the sport.
03:32 And obviously, you see the comments that come through.
03:34 But for me, when Valentina lost to Alexa, the hate she got online,
03:39 I thought that's one of the best who's ever graced, who's ever graced.
03:45 Or when Amanda lost to Pena once, the hate, I was just like,
03:49 what's going on here?
03:50 But the Internet's just horrific at the minute, no matter if it's sports,
03:55 politics, life, anything, there's no positive in it.
03:58 So I just think, don't even go there.
04:01 Do you know what I mean?
04:02 >> And is it extra special that you get a chance to rebound in the UK,
04:05 co-main event?
04:06 >> That was him, I didn't even know until Tuesday that that was a thing.
04:11 So that was, it's big for me, do you know what I mean?
04:15 I think my career has been very much like people's real life, do you know what I
04:20 mean, the highest highs, the lowest lows, and
04:22 just trying to show resilience to keep on pushing through.
04:26 And I'm the most calm I've ever been, I'm the most relaxed I've ever been.
04:32 And I really hope that, I watched Macy and Amanda the other week, and
04:38 they was the co-main, and they got a lot of hate.
04:39 They shouldn't be co-main, and they gave the fight of the night, in my opinion.
04:44 And I'd like to make sure that me and Julia on it do exactly the same.
04:49 And I don't think I've ever had a rubbish minute in that arena,
04:53 do you know what I mean?
04:55 I've given my whole life every minute in that arena and
04:58 nearly lost an eye and an elbow.
05:00 So I think I'm very excited and grateful.
05:04 >> One last one from me, Julia's making her flyweight debut,
05:07 what are you expecting out of her?
05:09 >> We signed for this fight on the 24th of February, sorry.
05:14 And it was supposed to be on June 10th, I'm not sure if she told us that before.
05:18 So we was told about it maybe like the fifth, round about Valentine's Day.
05:23 It's nearly five months, that is a long time to be prepared.
05:27 I am so light, I'm like eating carbs.
05:30 I was downstairs having toast with my ex from the PI, do you know what I mean?
05:33 So I'm in the shape of my life.
05:36 I believe she'll be in the shape of her life.
05:38 She's not coming here just for a paycheck.
05:41 She's not coming here to make up the numbers.
05:43 She believes that she's gonna take a win home.
05:46 And I expect the hardest part about this fight for
05:50 myself and her will have been to stay on it, cuz that's a long time.
05:55 So making sure that we've both periodized correctly is gonna be really important.
05:59 And I can't wait to see what she's got.
06:02 I heard her saying she took four February fights just to get them.
06:06 Apparently, she's never had a problem really making weight the last few times
06:11 for Bantam, which I don't know how true that is.
06:14 But we'll see tomorrow on the scales.
06:17 I wish her a happy weight cut, a good refuel, and a brilliant night Saturday.
06:23 >> Thank you.
06:24 >> Molly, you just mentioned there about Julia's weight cuts in the past.
06:29 And a lot of the narrative that I've been listening to up to this fight has been,
06:33 she's struggled at 135 before making 125.
06:37 That's a bit of a risk for her.
06:38 How is it affecting you?
06:40 And have you thought about how you'd react or proceed forward if she does misweight?
06:45 >> I haven't really thought about it too much, because if we're all being honest,
06:51 I'm one of the lighter flyweights.
06:53 And everyone kinda looks like a Bantamweight, I fight anyway.
06:56 They're all five inches taller than normally, I have like an eight inch reach
07:01 on me, so I can't see too much being a difference.
07:04 I don't know, will she be a bit more drained,
07:07 because it's been a long time for her to cut weight?
07:10 Or did you see the state of me at my UFC debut and what my body shape looked like?
07:15 And then when I talk my nutrition serious, because I had the help,
07:18 I'm a completely different athlete.
07:20 So that could have been the kick up the ass for
07:23 her to give her what she needs to be, who she needs to be.
07:26 But I can't focus on her and what she's about.
07:29 I've just got a state tunnel vision and do my bit on Saturday night.
07:33 And that's all I've really thought about, mate.
07:38 >> So also, I think there's Andre Muniz, who is a ranked middleweight.
07:45 And then there's two ranked Bantamweights fighting on this card.
07:48 I think the Bantamweights are on the prelims of this.
07:51 But you are the co-main event.
07:53 How much pride do you take that you've achieved so much popularity with the fans,
07:58 but also with the UFC that they see you as someone they're very happy to push
08:03 high up a card and to provide them with great fights?
08:05 Does that give you a sense of pride?
08:07 >> Yeah, absolutely.
08:09 And it's making sure that I know I deserve it.
08:12 I know there's been a lot of controversy over it.
08:18 But this is my 11th fight in the UFC.
08:20 I've nearly given me eyesight to this company.
08:23 I've broken bones, torn ligaments.
08:26 I give every interview that I can.
08:29 I do everything to represent this company to the best of my ability.
08:33 And I think it's about time.
08:35 And I remember when I got the main card last March, Hunter,
08:40 I sat next to him before Patrick walked out and he went, it was my decision to do this.
08:44 I'm so made up.
08:45 And then in the July fight, again, when I won, I sat next to him and
08:49 he was like, the crowd wasn't popping until you came out.
08:53 Thank you very much.
08:54 And I'm kind of kill or be killed on, my fights aren't boring.
08:59 I just try to be a fan favorite and I think I will be there.
09:07 I am there and I'll show that on Saturday.
09:09 And I haven't really thought about it too much because, I don't know,
09:14 me last performance, I was living me dream and
09:18 I was thinking about too much about the dream, do you know what I mean?
09:21 And I've done the same at UFC Liverpool, thinking about too much.
09:24 I've done it.
09:25 I haven't got the win yet.
09:26 So I'm as good as me last performance in the eyes of the public and
09:30 that was fucking pony.
09:31 So best little meatball throw some elbows on Saturday night.
09:35 >> Looking forward to it best of luck.
09:36 >> Thank you.
09:37 >> Molly over to your left.
09:39 Hi, just to circle back to something that you were talking about earlier,
09:43 that run you had in 21, 22, your career was going at 100 miles an hour.
09:49 And now you're saying how calm things are this week and
09:51 things maybe are slowing down a little bit.
09:53 Is that also reflected in how you're seeing things as a fighter?
09:57 Is the sport slowing down for you and obviously helping you as a result?
10:01 >> Do you know what?
10:03 After that fight, I talk like I said, I can't even come in the gym.
10:07 Like I was that sore.
10:10 I talked two months out and I didn't know if I'm not gonna do this if I don't
10:15 believe that I can achieve something because it's too hard.
10:19 And I took two months out and I realized what's important to me.
10:24 And it's my friends and my family and my family really are my gym family.
10:29 Do you know what I mean?
10:30 They're there for me through everything.
10:32 And I got engaged on New Year's Eve slash New Year's Day.
10:37 And then from that moment, me and Ellis bought a house and
10:40 then I got a business.
10:42 And then I was training obviously all the way through but
10:45 I got asked to fight on UFC London in March.
10:47 I said I'm not ready.
10:48 I would have never have said that before.
10:51 But I was just like I just need to be Molly.
10:53 I just need to not have to be like meatball all the time and be like,
10:57 yeah, what's happening people?
10:59 Like I just, I need to live just for a minute.
11:02 Do you know what I mean?
11:02 Since I've been in front of you all, like I'm 100 miles an hour.
11:07 I give fucking every single piece of my energy to use and to the crowds and
11:11 to the fans and I just needed to live.
11:13 And what I've realized is I've got me roots in me home.
11:17 I've got a steady income in my business.
11:19 I've got a steady income in my sponsorship and my company and
11:23 that's settled me.
11:24 And I think when your central nervous system's calm,
11:27 you're not always on fight or flight.
11:29 You're not always anxious and you can't walk down streets sometimes where I live
11:33 because people are just flocking to you.
11:35 So it's quite hard, do you know what I mean?
11:37 But like we say, at 11 fights in now, you're right,
11:40 I can see clear vision what's being asked of me.
11:45 I've got the coping tools and mechanisms to handle this and not exert too much and
11:50 give you what you need but still keep what I need.
11:52 And I really, really believe that you can make more correct decisions when you're
11:58 like that.
11:59 If you look at me last win, which was a year ago at UFC London,
12:03 my eyes look like a woman possessed walking to that cage.
12:06 When I was in there, I was just dialed in and I feel like I'm there again,
12:10 but better, if you know what I mean.
12:14 >> And looking at different fighters across the sport,
12:18 some of them walk out to pump in heavy metal music, some of them walk out to
12:22 gangster rap.
12:23 You walk out to a song that's basically a love letter to your home city.
12:27 It's not a stereotypical walkout song.
12:30 What does that song mean to you?
12:33 So you always get very emotional when you walk out to it.
12:35 >> I feel like I'm crying just talking about it.
12:37 >> You're belting it out every time.
12:38 But I think people sort of can relate to that as well.
12:42 So I just wanted to ask what that song and
12:45 what being able to walk out to that means to you.
12:48 >> Obviously, Jamie Webster's a great friend of mine.
12:51 And there's, you know a few of us who were so patriotic.
12:55 The Brazilians are the same, the Irish are the same, Scousers are the same,
12:58 Mexicans are the same, Americans are the same.
13:01 But I think it's a little bit different with the Americans.
13:03 I feel like we have this fighting spirit because we're so
13:07 oppressed as a city or a nation.
13:10 And in that song, it kind of just unites that like,
13:13 the qualities of us as like, we're not a different race, but
13:19 Scousers are different beings, aren't we?
13:21 We're a little bit nuts.
13:22 So everything Jamie says in that song, I just feel in me bones and in me essence.
13:28 And sometimes the walkout's for the crowds.
13:32 And I think when I changed the walkout for
13:34 myself, it helped me develop my own fighting style because I wasn't just a lunatic.
13:39 But Jamie Webster's got another song that is equally amazing for Scousers.
13:45 And I'm actually walking out of that with a little bit of Evan in the mix.
13:49 So because Paddy's not on,
13:51 I've got to make sure that the walkout tunes up there on Saturday night.
13:55 So I've got the skyline tattooed on me ankle.
13:59 I've Liverpool, I've got my people, my city, my heart tattooed on me.
14:04 So no matter where I go, my city comes with me everywhere and
14:07 it'll be the same on Saturday night.
14:09 >> Brilliant, thanks a lot.
14:10 >> No problem.
14:11 >> Hey Molly, to your right, you were saying earlier that you're in the best shape
14:14 of your life, you also said that on Instagram yesterday.
14:17 Have you changed anything specifically about your training or
14:20 your diet to get to that point?
14:22 >> My nutrition and strength and conditioning is Vortex.
14:28 It's Paul Reed and Carl Evans.
14:31 And this camp, Carl wakes with the boxers and Paul Reed wakes with the MMA fighters.
14:37 But I've just been going over with the MMA a lot a little bit more.
14:40 That's the only difference that I can really say, lads.
14:44 And over that, this has been five months.
14:47 Do you know what I mean?
14:48 This has been five fucking months.
14:49 That is a long time.
14:51 I cheated on me diet once at Paddy Pimblit's wedding.
14:54 Do you know what I mean?
14:55 And that was about it.
14:57 I've stayed committed.
14:58 I do, I believe it.
15:01 Look, I've been on, sorry, my eyes watering from when I broke it three years ago.
15:07 I've been really committed that every time I lose, you see with every fight,
15:12 you just bite down and you give more and you try to level up in a different way.
15:16 And I think that's what I've tried to do my best.
15:18 Not that I was ever cheat on any and ever, but I don't know.
15:25 I've tried, I've tried, I've tried.
15:27 >> You mentioned as well that the Internet is horrific when it comes to subjects
15:31 like sport and politics.
15:32 You've always been quite outspoken about your political views.
15:36 I was wondering what your thoughts were on some of the current issues of the day,
15:39 like the cost of living crisis, government plans to turn refugee boats around.
15:45 >> I think, lad, I think no human is an illegal alien.
15:52 Do you know what I mean?
15:53 I don't think any human deserves to be turned away when they flee in war and
15:58 famine and prosecution for something they've not done.
16:04 I'm Labour through and through, support the unions,
16:07 back the unions, stand with the unions.
16:10 Keir Starmer is not a good guy in the Labour's books at the minute.
16:17 Rishi Sunak is scum of the earth to this country.
16:20 And I don't know.
16:23 I think if you read online, it gets broken down quite a lot.
16:28 When you tax inheritance, when you tax the super rich 1 or
16:33 2%, the money is there for the majority.
16:37 And obviously, I side more with socialism, and
16:41 I know that doesn't make a country and an economy sometimes can't run off that.
16:45 And the ideology is more better in principle than it is in reality.
16:49 But I just don't understand how the left is now gearing to the right.
16:56 It's hard.
16:56 I've really tried not to look at too much politics a lot at the minute,
17:00 because I feel like for every single country in this room, they are failing us.
17:04 The government in every country is just not doing the right things at the minute.
17:08 >> Thanks, Molly, all the best.
17:09 >> No problem.
17:09 I'll probably get more hate for that than any in this week, to be fair.
17:14 Go on, lad.
17:15 >> Yeah, I'm just asking about the mural that was unveiled a couple of months back
17:19 from Paddy.
17:20 >> Yeah.
17:21 >> [INAUDIBLE]
17:24 >> The mural, I'm not sure if anyone's
17:27 seen the massive me and Paddy mural, and it's got my sports bras in blue, and
17:33 his gloves in red, and there's a wide road where if you go this way,
17:39 it takes you to Goodison Park.
17:41 I'm doing really well to stay focused with whatever's going on back there.
17:45 If you go to the left, you go to Goodison Park.
17:49 If you go to the right, you go to Anfield.
17:51 And me and Patrick have always tried to be the bridge of the gap for
17:53 the reds and the blues.
17:56 And every run I do on a Monday after I finish my session, I run around Goodison
18:00 Park and I come back to the gym.
18:02 So I probably see it at least once a week, but the likeliness is uncanny.
18:08 Me teeth just look exactly the same,
18:10 like on the side of a house, which is hilarious, big wipings in your face.
18:15 And it's a proud moment.
18:17 Do you know, the guy who done it kind of said, we're going to put a quote on,
18:23 I want to put, scousers don't get knocked out, said you do not put that.
18:27 I said, because if that happens, well, it's happened, hasn't it?
18:29 It's happened, so we don't want to just be made trolls off.
18:32 But I said, it's our people, it's our city.
18:35 It needs to say something about that, you know what I mean?
18:40 So it's like our city, our people, our heart.
18:42 And if there's a few people who walk around that city,
18:45 who personify scousers and put them first and foremost,
18:49 then I definitely think we're two of them.
18:50 So I was really proud of that.
18:53 Thank you.
18:53 >> Molly, was there a part of you after your last fight against Aaron that
18:57 wanted your next fight to be against another grappler,
19:00 just to kind of silence the doubters?
19:03 >> People like give me hell for this matchup.
19:05 And what I'd like to say to you all is, have you ever seen me turn down a fight?
19:11 I broke my eyeball, my eye socket, a couple years ago.
19:15 Nine weeks later, I was fighting, I was three to one underdog.
19:20 Every single fight, I've never, stylistically, I don't get to choose.
19:24 I don't say no, I give you the company gives to me.
19:27 Say yes, thank you very much, and I try my absolute best.
19:29 So some people can say whatever they want, but
19:33 I'm just here trying to be the best me that I can be.
19:35 And I never underestimated Aaron Blanchfield, but she's just a killer, isn't she?
19:42 She's gonna absolutely, I think she'll be the world champ for
19:47 a very long time at whatever weight she wants to go at, to be honest with you.
19:50 Cuz she's just got the perfect style to kill everyone's style.
19:55 But the fight before that, the girl was a grappler, all the fights before that,
20:01 if you can't stand with me, people will just hold me and take me down anyway.
20:05 So I don't feel like game plans really change for me.
20:09 It's just normally length and reach.
20:11 But I don't know, to knock another grappler out or
20:16 to maybe even submit one, I hope would.
20:20 It wouldn't even matter, actually, because people would still say,
20:24 she's a black belt, Hodger Gracie.
20:26 And if I dismantled her, she'd then be like, well, she was a bantamweight anyway.
20:31 Well, she struggled with the way she cuts, it doesn't matter.
20:34 Do you know what I mean?
20:35 We could create an additive any which way we want, but it doesn't really matter.
20:39 No problem.
20:41 >> Am I done?
20:43 >> Yeah, go on.
20:44 >> You've got a question?
20:45 >> Yeah, yeah. >> Go on, mate.
20:46 >> Yeah, you talked about the Super Bowl and the fans,
20:49 they were just sort of fed up with Serena.
20:52 And over the past year, London's gonna have to support you guys.
20:55 Do you expect it to stay the same?
20:57 Do you know what that will be?
20:58 >> I absolutely know it will.
21:00 I sold a lot of tickets for the fight, a hell of a lot.
21:04 And I know half of Dublin will be there supporting me.
21:07 All the scousers will be there for me and Shorter on Saturday night.
21:09 And there'll be a sea of tri-color and a sea of,
21:13 I still imagine there'll be Paddy the Baddy Wigs and all the rest of it.
21:17 So I absolutely cannot wait to hear that crowd.
21:20 That's the thing that's been getting me through.
21:21 When the days are long and the sessions are hard,
21:24 because I've had to train with big boys for this.
21:28 Sometimes rewatching your workout is a magical thing.
21:32 And just to hear, do you know when you're in a fight,
21:35 you don't actually take in the magnitude?
21:38 But when I listened to me last two fights, I was like, wow,
21:41 that was like a lot of noise for me out there.
21:43 And I can't wait for it, lad.
21:47 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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