UFC star Molly McCann thought she was "done" with fighting after her one-sided loss to Erin Blanchfield last November.
McCann, 33, was decisively beaten by surging prospect Blanchfield on the UFC 281 undercard as she was forced to tap out in the opening round due to a kimura. 'Meatball' was taken down early on in the fight and she wasn't able to get back to her feet, with the nature of the defeat making the Scouser question her UFC future.
"I thought I was done because I was that wounded," McCann said. "I had eight weeks out and my shoulder was dislocated and f***ed anyway, but I gave four months of my life for that and it didn't even out of three minutes. I was f***ing raging. I just thought 'I don't know if I can give that much' I gave it more than I had ever given."
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"I invested so heavily in my training partners, recovery, preparation and nothing went wrong in the camp, everything went meticulous but the fight went f***ed up. I've had other camps where I'm holding together by string and I get these unreal finishes, so I don't know. It took me until February until I decided I wanted to fight again."
McCann makes her return to The O2 arena on July 22 as she faces Julija Stoliarenko at UFC London. The 33-year-old has a good record fighting in the English capital having won all three of her UFC outings in the city. Expanding on her mental struggles, McCann realised she was "human" again after taking a well-needed holiday following her loss to Blanchfield.
"You have got to grieve, I was grieving a loss. It's not about being a big baby but I give my life to this. Every interview, every training session, every interaction with fans. I give everything. When you don't get the result you want it burns. Daniel Cormier, I'm not liking myself to him or his accomplishments, but he said when he lost to Jon Jones he had to let it burn and feel it," she added.
"Mine was the same. I had to be okay to being Molly McCann and not being Meatball. I went away for a couple of weeks with my coach to Tenerife and I was just a normal human for a bit. It wasn't an easy task to get back to where I am, but I've dug in. I feel like that loss will help define my fighting style and the rest of my career."
UFC Fight Night: Aspinall vs Tybura tickets go on sale from 10:00 a.m. BST on Friday, May 26 via AXS and Ticketmaster.
