Las Vegas, NV – After scoring the finish at UFC Vegas 59 on Saturday night strawweight Cory McKenna spoke on scoring the first Von Flue choke in UFC women’s MMA history.
“At first I was like ‘ok I’m here, I’ll give it a try’. Worst case I get out of her clinging onto my neck,” McKenna told Cageside Press among other media in her post-fight scrum.
“Then I heard her corner freaking out and I heard her breathing getting heavier. Then she shouted at her corner like ‘I’m trying to get out!’. And I was like, ‘OH this is deep!’ and yeah. I’ve never finished a Von Flue before.”
With Granger yelling at her corner that she was trying to get out of the submission McKenna knew she had the choke in.
“I think if anything that definitely made me squeeze on that a little bit harder.”
In order to deal with the height and reach advantage of her opponent McKenna employed a takedown strategy that involved getting in close with strikes and getting her opponent down. Once she got the takedown it was nearly impossible for Granger to get back up.
“I feel like I always have a pretty good strength advantage. Ever since I was like 15 I’ve been very focused on my strength and conditioning. I work with Powering Through back home so I’m very lucky to have such a high level guy behind me with that,” McKenna said.
McKenna came out nearly untouched which usually means a fighter will be ready to come back rather quickly, but she wasn’t ready to commit to a quick turnaround.
“I’m going to take tonight to chill with my team, go away, go look at the fight. It was only like a round and a bit, but I’m sure there’s plenty to work on. Always is. Take at least a few weeks to work on the improvements that need to be made,” said McKenna.
“Then I’m sure i’ll sit down with the coaches, see what they offer us, and have a look from there, but nothing really in mind as of yet. Just going to take things as they come.”
Watch the full UFC Vegas 59 post-fight press scrum with Cory McKenna above.
