She did it again.
For the second straight fight, “Meatball” Molly McCann landed a spinning back elbow at the O2 Arena in London, England. Back at UFC London in March, she finished Luana Carolina with the move, a highlight-reel KO many called the best women’s stoppage of all time.
At Saturday’s return to the venue, McCann landed that same attack on Hannah Goldy, stunning her to set up the eventual finish. This time out, it was a TKO finish, but nearly as impressive, perhaps even more so given she successfully duplicated the low-percentage attack in front of thousands of adoring fans.
That was enough to secure McCann one of four Performance of the Night bonuses at Saturday’s UFC London event. The second trip to England for the UFC in 2022, the card did not have a Fight of the Night awarded.
Instead, four fighters including McCann scored individual bonuses. Among them, McCann’s close friend and teammate, Paddy Pimblett. Paddy “The Baddy” spent a good deal of the opening round of his lightweight fight dealing with Jordan Leavitt’s grappling. But in the second, he began to get the better of the exchanges, and rocked Leavitt with a knee in the clinch. Leavitt went down, and Pimblett was able to take the back and sink in a rear-naked choke, soon forcing a tap.
The Paddy and Molly show rolls on.
Also winning big on Saturday, Nikita Krylov, who earned a career-defining victory against former two-time title challenger and Hall of Famer Alexander Gustafsson. Krylov took little over a minute to score the knockout after starting the fight hot.
Jonathan Pearce, meanwhile, played spoiler by stopping Makwan Amirkhani with punches in the second round of their featherweight fight. “JSP” was one of three Americans to win on the night, alongside Victoria Leonardo and Curtis Blaydes, though the latter got the win via an injury TKO.
All four bonus-winners will pocket an additional $50,000 for their efforts, on top of their usual fight purse and outfitting pay.
